Mysterious Fruits of Water: Dragonfruit

Now that much of the public has deduced that bottled-up tap water might not be their best buy, marketers have responded with value-added flavorings that ostensibly de-commoditize their products. But of course, it’s still brutally competitive in the death-battle for shelf space and market share, so a ho-hum strawberry flavor is just not going to cut it.

So now we see many esoteric fruits of the world lending exclusivity to various bottled waters.

Here’s Organic Water Plus Vitamins with Dragonfruit and Kiwi. (There’s a got-it-all product for you!) I know what Kiwi is, but Dragonfruit? With the aid of appropedia.org we learn:

The pitaya or dragon fruit is a fairly easy to grow tropical to subtropical fruit in the cactus family (HOW IRONIC IS THAT?!) , native to South and Central America. Although It is not of large commercial importance (MAYBE THAT’S ABOUT TO CHANGE!) , it is fairly common throughout the world’s tropics. It is well adapted to wet climates (MORE IRONY!) as long as its soil (AND WESTERN WALLETS!) has good drainage.

UPDATED: As it turns out, the Dragon Fruit has a very long cultural tradition rooted in marketing! According to the Legend of the Dragon Fruit, from www.tropicalfruitnursery.com,

The sensation surrounding this fabulous fruit can be attributed to a legend created by ingenious Asian marketers. According to the legend the fruit was created thousands of years ago by fire breathing dragons. During a battle when the dragon would breathe fire the last thing to come out would be the fruit. After the dragon is slain the fruit is collected and presented to the Emperor as a coveted treasure and indication of victory.