Dragon fruit

Dragon fruit (English: pitaya) is the fruit of several species of cactus from the genera Hylocereus and Selenicereus. This fruit comes from Mexico, Central America and South America but is now also cultivated in Asian countries such as Taiwan, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. The fruit can also be found in Okinawa, Israel, northern Australia and China. Hylocereus only blooms at night.

In 1870 the plant was brought French from Guyana to Vietnam as an ornamental plant. By the Vietnamese and the Chinese the fruit is considered to be a blessing. Therefore, this fruit is always placed between two green dragon statues on the altar table. The red color of the fruit looks striking between the colors of the green dragons. It is from this custom that the fruit among Vietnamese people deeply influenced Chinese culture is known as thang loy (dragon fruit). The term Thang loy is then translated in Europe and other English-speaking countries as dragon fruit.