Today, I plan to make dried dragon fruit. Right now, dragon fruit is quite affordable, priced at only IDR 17,000, which is about $1 USD. For every kilogram, I can get about two dragon fruits since they’re quite large. The ones I'm using are the purple variety. There are three types of dragon fruit that I know of—purple, white, and yellow—but purple is the most common.
To start, I’ll remove the dragon fruit from its skin, then slice it thinly. I’ll arrange the slices on a dehydrator tray, making sure they don’t overlap and leaving some space between each piece. This will help them dry evenly. Then, I’ll set the dehydrator to 60°C for 10 hours. Drying them overnight is best, so they’re ready the next morning.
Once dried, the dragon fruit has a leathery texture—not crispy, but firm and chewy. It tastes sweeter than fresh dragon fruit, probably because much of the water has evaporated. Interestingly, it also loses that slightly earthy taste, which fresh dragon fruit sometimes has. I think my kids might enjoy it since it has a richer, sweeter flavor that could appeal to their taste buds.
