July 29, 2005
Dragon Eyes
While making my afternoon cup of coffee, I spotted strange and unusual fruit being washed. Now, I'm always curious to try new and unusual foods, exotic produce, rare delicacies. Being a Curious George, I, of course, had to ask what the young man was washing.
"It's Dragon Fruit," he said, "A very popular Asian fruit. Similar to Lychee, but a bit sweeter. Here try some!"
How could I say no?
Ben, the young man, deposited a few round fruits into my cup. "Enjoy," he said on the way out.
I peeled the fruit as soon as I got to my desk. The fleshy part, tight and slippery, looked like an eyeball. I know, slightly unappetizing. Still, I decided to try it.
It did taste a lot like Lychee, but sweeter and more subtle. In fact, I liked it better. The flavor grew inside your mouth and then, like perfume, lingered ghost-like before disappearing completely.
I was hooked instantly. And I wanted to give you all a picture to see, but Google is lacking in pictorial representation of Dragon Eyes, and I don't have a camera on my phone. So forgive me for a text-only post.
However, those of you who do like Lychee, do go out there and try it - you'll find another food stuff to adore, and it just might put a smile on your face. It did on mine.
Comments
I saw the picture, but the ones I ate don't look like that. They look like lychees, somewhat.
They're called rambutans. Not legal to import into the united states until recently, but have been easy to find in chinatown for a long time.
Hi Radish,
Rambutans have a kind of 'hairy' exterior. Did the fruit you ate have a smooth, brown skin? The flesh is greyish-translucent, and the seed is round. They are called longans. In Mandarin, the name means dragon's eyes.
It may interest you to know that a local shop now sells these longnans in Palmerston North, NZ. Last month, I first ate them in a 5 star hotel in Changsha, Hunan, China. They were fresh and unpeeled in a bowl, part of the Huatian Hotel breakfast smorgasbord. I thought they were lychees too until my Asian friends convinced me that they were not. Also, they find them too sweet and only 1/5 even ate one. Of course, Google informed me best of all!
No Dragon Eyes, but plenty Dragon Fruit!
http://images.google.com/images?q=Dragon+Fruit&hl=en&lr=&sa=N&tab=ii&oi=imagest