Many people love dragon fruit (also known as pitaya) because of its unique appearance and taste. It is a tropical fruit with a high nutritional composition suitable for preserving the physique and beauty of a woman. In addition, it has many essential micronutrients that help the body develop comprehensively.
Thus, do you know when dragon fruit ripens and how to pick a dragon fruit? Keep reading this article, and we will reveal simple but valuable tips to choose the best dragon fruit.
How Do You Tell If A Dragon Fruit Is Ripe?
To fully enjoy the taste of dragon fruits, you must choose ripe and sweet dragon fruits. You can check the dragon fruits if it is ripe through signs that are easy to see with your eyes or by touching the fruit.
Find Yellow or Red Dragon Fruits
When a dragon fruit ripens, it will turn from green to red or yellow skin depending on the variety of species. At that time, the dragon fruit will be brighter and more even. However, some ripe fruits will have small dark markings on their outer skins. Do not worry because it is normal.
Wings Begin To Wither
The wing of the dragon fruit is the longleaf on the outside. You can tell if dragon fruit is ripe and ready to be eaten when its wings tend to wither and turn brown. Conversely, if the leaf is still green or has a vibrant color like red or yellow, it means that you need more time to ripen dragon fruit.
Cut The Dragon Fruit In Half And Look Inside
If you want to check if a dragon fruit is certainly ripe, you can cut the dragon fruit in half. When the inside of a dragon fruit is white flesh, red flesh, or pink skinned with tiny black seeds like kiwi, it is already ripe, and you are ready to eat right away.
Besides, the inside has to look very solid so that the dragon fruit is delicious. However, if it is dark brown, you should not eat dragon fruit because fruit is overripe and no longer delicious.
Click On The Dragon Fruit With Your Thumb
Try holding the fruit in your hand and pressing the dragon fruit by your thumb. If you feel it is soft and smooth, congratulations. It can ready to be harvested. On the contrary, if you find it still hard, you should spend a few more days to make it ripen.
However, you should only apply this method in case you own a dragon tree. You ought not to use this way when buying dragon fruits at stores or supermarkets because it can cause fruit bruising. At that time, you may have to pay compensation or buy it later.
Determine Ripe Dragon Fruit Based On Time
Have you ever wondered “How long does dragon fruit take to ripen?“. In case you are a dragon tree planter, you will surely know its evolution very well. Therefore, you only need to pay more attention to the time, so you can know when the dragon is ripe.
Dragon fruit should be harvested 30–32 days after flowering so that the fruit has the best quality. You can refer to this video on YouTube to have a better understanding.
How To Pick A Dragon Fruit
After you have determined which dragon fruit is ripe. The next thing you have to know is how to pick dragon fruit. You need to collect dragon fruits at the right time and in the precise technique.
Determine Ripeness And Harvesting Time
The growing time of dragon fruits from flowering to maturity is 30 – 32 days. Depending on your needs, you can collect the fruits early (30 days) or later (34 days).
In short, to get dragon fruit quality of beauty and sensory, you should harvest the fruit from the 30th to 32nd day after flowering. At this stage, the fruit has beautiful colors, and other biochemical indicators reach the most optimal value.
Besides, the best time to harvest is in the early morning or late afternoon. This is to avoid direct sunlight on the fruit, increasing the temperature in the fruit, causing dehydration, and affecting quality and storage time.
Eliminate Dragon Fruit Spikes
Normally, when ripe, dragon spines will fall out on their own. However, if it is still attached to the red skin of dragon fruit, you need to use pliers to remove the thorns that is left. Make sure that you work with the gloves to keep your hands safe and avoid getting injured by spikes.
Separate The Dragon From The Tree
This is the final stage when you harvest dragon fruit. You can separate the dragon fruit from the vine by twisting it. That will easily make it leave the tree when it is ripe. However, in case this way is not effective, use a sharp knife and cut it off the tree.
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Tips For Storing A Dragon Fruit
Storing Dragon Fruit At The Normal Temperature
This is a way of preserving the natural temperature and humidity. Dragon fruit, which is kept under this condition within good coolness, can be fresh for 5 – 8 days.
Preserving Dragon Fruits By Cold Processing
When stored at temperatures of 20 – 240 degrees Celsius, dragon fruit will be fresh for 8 – 10 days. Storing at 12 – 140 degrees C will keep dragon fruit new for 15 – 20 days.
However, dragon fruit should not be stored at temperatures below 50 degrees C because it will get cold damage. Then, on the shell of dragon fruit will appear brown spots, losing beauty.
Attention
Whatever way you preserve it, be sure not to peel or cut the dragon before storing it. That will have impacts on its value and longevity. You should keep the whole dragon fruit intact when preserving.
In particular, when you store it in the refrigerator, make sure you put it in storage bags or boxes. That will help the dragon to stay fresh longer and not dry.
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Conclusion
All the necessary information to know about dragon fruit as well as how to pick a dragon fruit has been revealed in our article. At present, everything you need to do is wait until your dragon fruit is ripe, and you can pick it to enjoy its sweet and delicious taste.
Source: Gardening101