Dragon Fruit Sorbet — a magenta pitaya ice with lime

i. Origin & history

Dragon fruit is the fruit of several climbing cacti in the genus Selenicereus (long classified as Hylocereus), native to the dry forests of Mexico and Central America. In its home region it is called pitaya or pitahaya, words that come from the Caribbean Taíno language via Spanish, and it has long been eaten fresh and made into aguas frescas and ices. The English name 'dragon fruit' refers to its scaly, flame-like skin.

The fruit travelled widely. It is thought to have been taken to Vietnam during the French colonial period, and Vietnam became one of the world's largest growers and exporters, where it is called thanh long, 'green dragon'. It is also grown extensively in Thailand, Malaysia, China, Israel, Australia, Florida and California. There are three main types: white-fleshed with pink skin (the most common), red- or magenta-fleshed with pink skin, and smaller yellow-skinned fruit with white flesh, which is the sweetest.

Dragon fruit became a fashionable ingredient in North America and Europe in the 2010s, largely because of the colour of the red-fleshed variety: 'pitaya bowls' and pink smoothies spread through Californian and Hawaiian juice bars and then social media. Frozen pitaya packs, sold for smoothies, made the fruit available year-round far from where it grows. Sorbet is a natural use, since the fruit is mostly water and its colour survives freezing beautifully.

Sorbets of this kind belong to a long line of fruit ices: in Mexico, paletas and helados de agua made from tropical fruit; in Sicily, granita; and the French sorbet, a churned ice of fruit and syrup that is the direct model for this recipe.

ii. Balancing a mild, watery fruit

Dragon fruit is about 85–90 per cent water and relatively low in sugar, and it is low in both acidity and pectin. That makes it a difficult sorbet fruit: puréed and frozen on its own it sets into a hard, icy block that tastes faint. Every adjustment in this recipe addresses one of those three properties.

Sugar controls the texture. In a sorbet, dissolved sugar lowers the freezing point of the water, so that at freezer temperature some of it stays liquid between the ice crystals; that is what makes sorbet scoopable. A good sorbet base is about 25–30 per cent sugar by weight, including the fruit's own. Because dragon fruit contributes relatively little, more sugar is added than for, say, mango. A spoonful of liquid glucose or honey helps further: these sugars are more effective at lowering the freezing point and discourage large ice crystals.

Acid brings the flavour. Dragon fruit's flavour is delicate — somewhere between pear, kiwi and watermelon — and without acid it tastes flat when cold. Lime juice sharpens it, and a pinch of salt does the same. The acid also helps protect the colour.

Do not cook the fruit. The magenta colour comes from betacyanins, the same family of pigments as in beetroot. They are sensitive to heat and turn dull and brownish when cooked for long. So the sugar syrup is made separately, cooled, and blended into raw fruit. The tiny black seeds are edible and give a speckled look; leave them in, or press the purée through a sieve for a smoother sorbet.

iii. Ingredients

Makes 6 servings · scroll the side panel to adjust

• 500 g red-fleshed dragon fruit flesh (about 2 large fruit), or frozen pitaya, thawed
• 130 g caster sugar
• 120 ml water
• 30 g liquid glucose, light corn syrup or mild honey
• 3 tbsp fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)
• 1 tsp finely grated lime zest
• ⅛ tsp fine salt

Only red- or magenta-fleshed dragon fruit gives the dramatic colour; white-fleshed fruit makes a pale, grey-speckled sorbet with the same mild flavour. Choose fruit with bright, evenly coloured skin that gives slightly when pressed, like a ripe avocado. Frozen pitaya packs are reliable and usually very vividly coloured; check whether they are sweetened and reduce the sugar slightly if so. Liquid glucose gives the smoothest texture, but light corn syrup or a mild honey works. If your fruit is very bland, replace 100 g of it with mango or passion fruit to boost the flavour without losing the colour.

iv. Method

1. Put the sugar, water and glucose in a small pan and heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves completely. Simmer for 1 minute, then remove from the heat, add the lime zest and leave to cool completely, about 30 minutes.
2. Halve the dragon fruit and scoop out the flesh with a spoon. Cut into chunks and weigh out 500 g.
3. Blend the fruit with the cooled syrup, lime juice and salt until completely smooth, about 1 minute. For a seedless sorbet, press the purée through a fine sieve.
4. Taste: the base should taste slightly too sweet and clearly tangy, since cold dulls both. Add a little more lime juice if it seems flat.
5. Chill the base in the fridge for at least 2 hours, or overnight, until very cold (below 5 °C).
6. Churn in an ice-cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions, usually 20–25 minutes, until it looks like thick, glossy soft-serve.
7. Scrape into a chilled container, press baking paper onto the surface, cover and freeze for 2–3 hours until firm enough to scoop.
8. Without a machine: freeze the base in a shallow tray, then every 45 minutes for 3–4 hours break it up and beat with a fork; or freeze it solid in ice-cube trays and blitz the cubes in a food processor until smooth, then refreeze for 30 minutes.

v. Tips & common mistakes

• Choose red-fleshed fruit. Check the flesh colour if you can; pink skin alone does not guarantee pink flesh, and white-fleshed pitaya gives a pale sorbet.
• Do not skimp on sugar. Dragon fruit is watery, and a low-sugar base freezes rock-hard and icy. The syrup quantity is what keeps it scoopable.
• Never boil the fruit. Heat dulls the magenta pigment; add only cooled syrup to raw purée.
• Season with lime and salt. Freezing mutes flavour, and dragon fruit is subtle to start with. The base should taste a little over-seasoned at room temperature.
• Chill the base thoroughly before churning. A cold base freezes faster in the machine, giving smaller ice crystals and a smoother sorbet.
• Soften before serving. After a day or two in the freezer, leave the tub at room temperature for 5–10 minutes before scooping.

vi. Variations

Dragon fruit and coconut replaces the water with coconut milk for a creamier, pastel-pink ice closer to a sherbet. Dragon fruit and passion fruit adds the strained pulp of 3 passion fruit for a sharper, more aromatic result. Dragon fruit and lychee uses half lychee for a floral flavour. A splash of tequila or white rum (1–2 tbsp) makes the sorbet softer and gives a margarita-like twist. The same base, poured into moulds with chunks of fruit, makes Mexican-style paletas.

For other sorbets on DessertCat, try the floral lychee sorbet, a sharp raspberry sorbet, the herby lemon basil sorbet or Ecuador's hand-spun helado de paila.

vii. Serving & storage

Serve dragon fruit sorbet in chilled glasses or in the hollowed-out fruit halves, which make striking bowls. It is a light finish to a spicy Mexican, Thai or Vietnamese meal, and pairs well with sliced mango, kiwi and lime wedges, toasted coconut, or a scoop of coconut ice cream. In a glass topped with sparkling wine or soda water it becomes a float.

Keep the sorbet in a sealed container with baking paper pressed onto the surface, for up to 2 weeks; after that it becomes icy and the colour fades slightly. Because it is dairy-free, it is suitable for vegans if made with sugar syrup and glucose rather than honey. The cooled base can be kept in the fridge for up to 2 days before churning.

ix. More from North American

• Lychee Sorbet — floral lychee ice
• Raspberry Sorbet — sharp, intense berry sorbet
• Rainbow Sherbet — three-flavour summer scoop
• Lemon Basil Sorbet — herbal citrus sorbet
• Paletas — Mexican fruit ice pops
• Helado de Agua — Latin American water ice