It is a tropical fruit that belongs to the VII fundamental group of foods - foods rich in vitamin C. It also contains little water, a lot of soluble sugars (fructose), dietary fiber and some minerals - including sodium and calcium. In the diet it has the same function as local fruits and can be consumed, albeit in different portions, by the majority of the general population; however, there are few exceptions, mainly related to pre-existing pathologies, which we will describe later.
The dragon fruit has a very characteristic shape; it only vaguely resembles the Indian fig, but has larger dimensions and a unique morphology of its kind. The skin is usually red or purple or yellow, while the pulp can be red (or with shades ranging from purple, to magenta, up to al rosa) or white. Some sources claim that, in the natural habitat, they can reach considerable dimensions.
Usually, dragon fruit or pitahaya are called those produced by the botanical genus Stenocereus, while the pitaya is more commonly used for the genus Hylocereus. Dragon fruit is grown predominantly in Southeast Asia, Florida, the Caribbean, Australia and all tropical and subtropical regions of the world.
