by Martina Bin
29 Sep 2018

Healthy Dragon Fruit Vegan Gelato

We are so very happy that, finally, dragon fruit is in season! With the weather playing some tricks, these guys had a hard time to grow and mature, but now you can enjoy our super sweet pink flesh dragon fruit again!

Please keep this lovely fruit in the fridge, it will last longer and its flavor will be enhanced.

Try this easy recipe for a healthy and yummy dragon fruit vegan gelato (ice-cream), for kids and grownups, everybody will just love it! All that you need to do is freeze a few ingredients in advance, including the fruit skin :) With one small dragon fruit, you can serve two small ice creams, it takes 5 minutes to prepare!

Have fun decorating with your favorite ingredients or with just what you have available (that's always my choice!). Chocolate won for me, as I was coating my energy balls with homemade vegan and gluten-free chocolate, I just poured some of it on top on my dragon fruit gelato, with coconut flakes and almonds. How would you garnish it, instead?!

Ingredients:
1 Eat FRESH dragon fruit, peeled, cut & frozen;
a few spoons of coconut milk;
Coconut water or simply water if you want to skip the coconut milk.
NO ADDED SUGAR REQUIRED!
Serve 2

Method:
Cut the dragon fruit lengthwise, spoon out the flesh, paying attention not to break the skin; freeze the skin, for a better result, place a small cup inside to keep the shape.
Cut the dragon fruit flesh in smaller pieces and freeze (avoid touching the flesh too much, your hands will turn all pink, lovely but funny :))

Once the ingredients are frozen (they can keep well for a few months, in case you forget about them :), just blend the fruit flesh and the coconut milk (or another liquid) in a small blender. Be a bit patient, start slowly with a few seconds only, open and push the ingredients down if necessary, and repeat a few times; finish with a longer and high-speed blend;

Pour in the dragon fruit cup, decorate and serve immediately. Enjoy!

Dragon fruit, also known as pitaya, is the fruit of Hylocereus, cactus species from the Americas, later brought to South Asian countries where it constitutes an important part of the local diet.

Among the number of health benefits, dragon fruit can

boost the immune system
stabilize blood sugar level
improve digestion
aids in weight loss
decrease bad cholesterol, increase good one
potentially, can help to prevent heart disease and cancer

It is very refreshing, juicy and not too sweet, particularly good to consume straight out from the fridge, cut in half, and eaten using a little spoon like it is an ice-cream cup, try!