Dragon fruit (red pitaya)

Dragon fruit (pitaya) grows on a cactus and is almost always imported. Scoop out the mild flesh with its tiny black seeds, or add it to bowls and smoothies.

What exactly is a pitaya? The neon fruit that looks like it's from another planet

Hardly any fruit looks as strange, artificial and downright alien as this one: the round, leathery, scaly, bright neon-pink pitaya (or dragon fruit; Hylocereus polyrhizus). Ironically, it doesn't grow in a gentle European orchard, but on huge, climbing, night-flowering cacti with tough, thorny stems in hot, dusty semi-deserts. Cut the fruit open and you'll find juicy, jelly-like flesh – bright magenta or snow-white, and speckled with countless tiny black seeds.

What's in it: the bright pink pigments

Even in the pricey organic aisle, skip the white-fleshed pitaya – it tastes bland and watery, a bit like mild cucumber water. Go for the deep pink to burgundy fruit instead (pink pitaya / red dragon fruit):

• Betalains (the pink pigment): This intensely coloured, water-soluble pigment is the same kind found in beetroot. Betalains are antioxidants and are studied for their effects on oxidative stress.
• Oligosaccharides: Besides water, the jelly-like flesh contains oligosaccharides – carbohydrates that reach the large intestine undigested, where gut bacteria ferment them.

What's in it: iron, vitamin C and the little black seeds

Iron and vitamin C together

Plant (non-haem) iron – from kale, for example – is absorbed less well than iron from meat. Dragon fruit contains plant iron together with vitamin C. Vitamin C in the same meal increases how much iron the body absorbs from plant foods.

The tiny black seeds

Take a closer look at the pink flesh: it's full of tiny black seeds. You eat them along with the flesh – they're soft with a slight crunch, and together with the flesh they add fibre and lots of water.

Good to know: don't panic about pink

A classic shock moment: if you eat a really big bowl of red dragon fruit – say a 1,400-gram smoothie bowl – your urine can turn bright pink to red about eight hours later. There's no need to rush to A&E in fear of something serious. It's simply the plant pigment betalain, which passes through your kidneys unchanged. It's a harmless colour, not blood.