A Thousand Miles for a Pink Pitaya
August 23rd, 2005

It easily felt like a thousand miles between Haidhausen and Viktualienmarkt, fighting my way through pouring rain to “follow a call” from our favorite food stand. But first things first, the reason for getting out in the wet to begin with was a promise made by the owner of the said food stand last week.

Pitaya

When we, as part of our Saturday morning routine, came by his stall (Leo’s Obst-Standl), which is one of the nicest around (a magnet for a lot of food stylists, too), we noticed – it literally jumped at us – an ALL pink dragon fruit (with super intense dark pink flesh!) on his neatly arranged tables. We already had tried a white one earlier this year, which in all honesty didn’t wow me too much and certainly wasn’t worth the money, it was quite expensive.

The stall owner claimed that the pink dragon fruit, the one I couldn’t get my eyes off (its beautiful pink color was just too mesmerizing), would be much better in taste than its white buddy. He picked a big one from the few he still had left, weighed it and for a moment I thought I heard him say 13 Euros. Nothing wrong with my hearing – he did say 13 Euros and was both confused and amused by looking at O. and I, as we were giving him different signals: O. shaking his head from left to right (in a nooo-waaay, are you out of your mind? manner), I was nodding, though maybe a little shy. How often do you pay that much money for one, and only one single fruit? Grabbed my wallet and paid him; off we were, looking forward to a new experience with one of the most intriguingly colored fruits I’ve see in a while. The price tag, I was successfully blocking out.

Pitaya

Back at home the disappointment couldn’t have been bigger: he just sold us another white one. Needless to say I twirled on the spot and returned it to him, who very friendly apologized and took it back, offering to give us a call once he had another pink pitaya come in. That was then.

Pitaya

This week I finally received the awaited call from his daughter to come and pick up the reserved pink pitaya. Great timing, with the weather and everything. Radio just broadcasted severe weather warnings in most Bavarian areas and in some even raising red alerts and here I am in my rain boots dreading to step outside. I rushed back as quickly as my feet allowed me to and got started right away. This dragon fruit beauty had an even more intense pink than the one we had seen the week before – simply amazing. On top, the taste fully delivered on its visual promises. Much more intense and flavorful, I’d describe it as kiwi-melon-pear-ish. Despite the obscene price tag, I think it was definitely worth it and would clearly recommend it over the pitayas with the clear/white flesh. For curious souls, some more tidbits on pitayas can be found here.

Bottom line: sometimes size color does matter.

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