What is a dragon eye fruit. Dragon fruit description, types and names of the dragon heart fruit, beneficial properties and harm of pitahaya. Soothes tanned skin

AT last years exotic products are gaining popularity. Pitahaya is a fruit with a large number of useful properties, originally from America. The most useful fruits are those eaten in the first week after harvest.

What is pitahaya - a description of the fruit

The exotic fruit is the fruit of several varieties of cactus. The product has such names as dragon's eye or dragon fruit. There are several types of fruits of these plants:

• red pitahaya;
• yellow pitahaya;
• costa rican pitaya.

The fruits grow on vine-like cacti. These plants have large white flowers, with a pronounced aroma, which open only at night. From one hectare planted with these plants, you can get more than 30 tons of fruits.

Cactus fruits have a low energy value. Calorie content per 100 grams of product - 40 kilocalories. The low calorie content of pitahaya is due to its high liquid content and low sugar content.

It is the low calorie content that makes the fruit popular among people who want to lose weight without denying themselves the use of tasty, but at the same time healthy food. The glycemic index of the product is low, so the product can be consumed even by diabetics.

The inside of the dragon fruit contains a juicy white pulp and a large number of small, dense seeds.

Note! The flesh of the pitahaya is white, only if it is a red pitahaya, in other varieties the color of the inside may be different, and have a raspberry or yellow color.

The average weight of one fruit is 250 grams. Sometimes there are specimens having a mass of more than 1 kg.

Beneficial features

The beneficial properties of dragon fruits are observed not only in terms of medicine, but also in cosmetology.

Health benefits of dragon fruit:

• improvement of the immune system;
• slowing down and preventing the development of cancer cells;
• normalization of the gastrointestinal tract;
• restoration of intestinal microflora;
• normalization of blood sugar levels;
• maintaining the work of the cardiovascular system;
• normalization of blood pressure in hypertension;
• restoration of optimal values ​​​​of cholesterol in the blood;
• improving the functioning of the organs of vision;
• improvement of the central nervous system and brain;
• normalization of the psycho-emotional state;
• slowing down cell aging.

The benefits of fruits also lie in the fact that the substances contained in them slow down oxidative processes in the body, which prevents the development of complications in people with diabetes.

The benefits of the fruit are observed with its regular use. Most of all, the dragon fruit is useful for people suffering from diseases of the heart and blood vessels, as it can slow down the development of diseases.

Not only the pulp of the fruit is useful, but also their seeds. They prevent the development of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, and are also a prophylactic against cancer.

Negative impacts

Fruits can bring not only benefit, but also harm. The main contraindications are children under 5 years of age and individual intolerance. The fetus can lead to an allergic reaction, even in people who are not prone to this phenomenon.

Since the fruit is exotic, the first time it is used, an intolerance to the fetus by the body may develop, expressed in skin rashes and upset stools.

How to eat dragon fruit

Eating cactus fruits is simple, all that is needed is to cool the product and cut it into several pieces. From the resulting pieces, the pulp should be eaten out with a teaspoon.

Also, sweets, ice cream, sherbets and yogurts are prepared from the product. The pulp of the fruit is well suited for making cool fresh juices. In cooking, not only the pulp is used, but also the seeds, peel and even flowers of this vegetation.

Prepared from pitaya:

• sauces;
• marmalade;
• alcoholic drinks;
• jam.

On the basis of the dragon's eye, you can prepare an aromatic tea that has healing properties for the body.

The taste of the fruit depends on the variety in question. Most often, pitaya tastes like a mixture of kiwi and banana.

Note! Yellow fruits have a more pronounced taste, red fruits have a bland taste and a weak aroma.

People who eat this fruit note that the best-tasting fruits were imported from Vietnam.

How to choose fruit and determine ripeness

Choosing a ripe fruit is not difficult, as it has distinctive features. Ripe fruits have a skin color characteristic of the variety, such as red or yellow. The green-skinned dragon eye is immature.

There should be no spots on the skin, as this indicates that the fruit is overripe and may have begun to deteriorate.

When pressed, the fruit should have a dense texture. Excessively hard or soft fruit is not worth buying. Vitamins are contained in fruits of any maturity, but ripe fruits have higher taste qualities.

How to peel a fruit

To peel the fruit, it is not required special skills. In order to get to the pulp, the dragon's eye must be cut into pieces. In the cut, the pulp is exposed, which can be easily separated from the peel with a spoon or hands.

Note! Pitahaya should be cleaned carefully, as the colored pulp has a strong pigment that can stain objects and fabrics.

Grow at home

It is possible to grow a plant at home, for this you need to purchase overripe, but whole fruits.

It is grown from seed.

1. The seeds must be separated from the pulp and dried, and then sown in the ground.
2. Shoots will be plentiful, so do not avoid picks.
3. The plants that have come into the world should be planted and stuck in a pot of supports along which they will curl.
4. Since the plant is a cactus, it does not need abundant watering, but it does require a lot of light in order to actively grow.

If the fruit is eaten correctly, it will only benefit the body. The product should be introduced into the diet with caution in order to be able to track the reaction of the body and not harm it.

The outlandish nature of distant lands never ceases to amaze us with its exotic gifts. One of these gifts is pitaya. This fruit, Dragon Heart, has beneficial properties. He appeared in our country quite recently, so the Russians are not yet familiar. Let's figure out how it is, what useful properties it has and what you need to know about it.

Pitahaya, or pitahaya, is the fruit of a tree-like cactus. This fruit is native to tropical countries. South America. However, today it has spread widely in the tropical zone of the Earth, so it is grown in Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines. The fruit is known by many names: "dragon fruit", "dragon heart", "dragon eye" and many others. The names associated with dragons, the fruit received for its characteristic shape. Many beautiful legends are associated with it.

The shape of the fruit is somewhat similar to a spruce cone, it is also covered with large scales - growths.

But this is where the similarity ends, because the scales are soft and greenish, and the fruit itself has a color from bright pink to red. The fruit has a rounded shape, therefore it resembles a red heart, enveloped in a greenish flame. From this shape came the name Dragon Heart. Under favorable conditions, the mass of pitaya can reach 1 kg, but more often the fruits grow from 200 to 700 g.

The hard skin is not edible, but it can be easily peeled off to reveal white, creamy flesh. Depending on the variety, the flesh can also be cream, pink or bright red. But it always has a lot of small black seeds. The taste of the fruit is sweet and sour, reminiscent of a cross between a banana and kiwi.

Several varieties of pitaya are known:

1. Red. This variety has bright pink skin and white or cream flesh. The taste is fresh-sweet, and the smell resembles the smell of herbs.
2. Yellow. The shell of this variety is bright yellow, reminiscent of a quince or a banana in shade. The taste is closer to sweet than sour, and the aroma is quite strong and pleasant.
3. Costa Rican. In this variety, both the peel and the flesh are red. The taste is very bright, even somewhat sugary.

Pitaya is widely used in the national cuisines of Southeast Asia. The pulp of the fruit is eaten fresh, added to salads and pastries. Thanks to its bright and unusual appearance, the fruit becomes an excellent table decoration. And the folk traditions of a number of countries prescribe the use of the Dragon Heart for wedding photo sessions.

Pitahaya is not only tasty, but also healthy. Its pulp is a real storehouse of vitamins and useful trace elements. The fruits contain:

• Vitamins C, B1, B3.
• Trace elements: iron, potassium, phosphorus, calcium.
• Vegetable fiber, which plays an important role in the normalization of digestion processes.
• Ash.
• The seeds are rich in tannins.

An important feature of pitaya is a high concentration in the pulp of substances that can bind free radicals. Therefore, the use of pitahaya in food can slow down the aging process, reduce the risk of developing cancer, strengthen the body's defense systems.

Also, this exotic fruit is able to correct carbohydrate metabolism disorders by reducing or increasing the amount of sugar in the blood.

In addition, pitaya has a beneficial effect on the joints, alleviating arthritis and arthrosis. The Heart of the Dragon will also be appreciated by those who are on a diet. The fruit is low-calorie, 100 g of pulp contains only 50 kcal. At the same time, the taste qualities will not leave indifferent even the most demanding gourmets.

Exotic fruits are amazing, but when it comes to eating, they can be confusing. The question of how to eat the outlandish Dragon Heart is also quite common. It is worth remembering that only the pulp is used for food, and the shell, although very decorative, is not suitable for eating.

There are two main ways to consume this fruit:

1. The fruit is cut in half, and then the pulp is eaten with a teaspoon, taking it out of the shell, like ice cream from a vase.
2. The peel is removed from the fruit, and the pulp is cut into slices before serving.

National traditions of serving this fruit recommend serving slices of the “dragon heart” pulp in its own removed shell. In this case, you can also add various nuts and pieces of other fruits to them. Served in this way, pitahaya will please not only the taste, but also the gourmet's eye and will become a real decoration of the table.

The small seeds that are dotted with the flesh of the pitaya can also be used as food. They are rich in nutrients and have a beneficial effect on the body when eaten. However, in order for the body to use the beneficial substances hidden in the seeds, they must be thoroughly chewed before swallowing.

The abundance of nutrients has made the Dragon Heart widely used in folk medicine plant. This fruit is used to treat a number of diseases:

• Problems with the pancreas. With diabetes, the Dragon Heart can alleviate the patient's condition by normalizing the amount of sugar in the blood.
• Acidity gastric juice and associated diseases.
• Problems with the immune system, decreased ability of the body to fight disease. Strengthening the immune system is provided by a high concentration of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) in this product.
• Diseases of the heart and blood vessels.
• Decreased visual acuity.
• A rich set of vitamins and microelements normalizes metabolism, which contributes to the overall health of the body.

Not only fruits have useful properties. Preparations for the treatment of helminthiasis are made from pitaya stems. The seeds of the "heart of the dragon", rich in tannins and phenolic compounds, are used to make preparations for the treatment of diarrhea, the removal of heavy metal poisoning, and the treatment of throat diseases.

The fruit pulp is also used for cosmetic purposes.

Pitahaya mask relieves sunburn. This knowledge will be especially useful for tourists traveling to Southeast Asia to sunbathe on the beaches. In addition, fruit pulp puree tones the skin and produces a rejuvenating effect.

And of course, the Dragon Heart is just a very tasty and beautiful fruit. It is used for the manufacture of fruit salads, alcoholic beverages, sweets.

Any exotic fruit usually causes some concern: is it possible to eat it, are there any contraindications? Pitaya also requires some caution.

If the family has a small child (up to 3 years of age) who has previously had diathesis, it is not recommended to give him the pulp of pitaya.

Since this fruit is not familiar to most Russians, the first time you use it, there is a risk of an allergy. Therefore, it is better to start tasting this fruit with a small piece, and then wait a while. And if some allergy symptoms began to appear (itching, redness of the skin, shortness of breath, runny nose), then take antihistamines. If everything went well, you can safely enjoy the wonderful taste of "dragon fruit".

There are practically no other contraindications to the use of this fruit. But it is worth observing moderation, since overeating can cause indigestion (diarrhea, heartburn, bloating). This rule should be followed for all exotic fruits.

Dragon Heart Fruits spoil very quickly, and their transportation is quite difficult. Therefore, in our country, this fruit is still exotic. It is easier to try pitaya at home, in Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines. When choosing a fetus, you should be guided by several rules:

• The average size of a ripe fruit is about a quarter of a kilogram. You should not choose too small or too large fruits, so as not to encounter overripe or unripe fruits.
• The color of the peel, regardless of the variety, should be even and saturated. If the color is not uniform, most likely the fruit is not yet ripe.
• Feel the fruit before buying. Unripe fruits are firm, ripe ones are noticeably softer.
• Pay attention to the leafy scales on the peel. If they are dried up, not green, it means that the fruit was plucked a long time ago and could have deteriorated.
• Carefully inspect the skin of the fruit before buying. If it has cracks, specks, rotten places - the fruit is not fresh and you should refuse to buy.

A ripe Dragon Heart spoils very quickly. Store purchased fruits in the refrigerator, and no longer than 4 days. If you are buying a fruit in Russia for some kind of celebration, it is better to choose a slightly unripe copy. It will lie longer and gradually reach a ripe state even when stored in the refrigerator.

Pitaya is a great decoration for any holiday table. Properly selected and served fruit will give an unforgettable experience. And his unusual view will surprise guests and make the holiday more vivid and memorable.

More information can be found in the video:

Pitahaya is the fruit of a climbing cactus plant. The question, is it a fruit or a berry, should not be - this fruit is called a dragon fruit in a different way. Pitahaya fruit originally grew in Mexico and Central and South America. Now it can be found in Australia and Southeast Asia. Mainly in Thailand and Vietnam.

From this article you will learn:

Types of pitahaya

There are three types of this fruit:

1. Red pitahaya has a bright pink skin with green shoots and white flesh. What the taste is like: fresh, watery, and herbal. In Russia, this variety is almost always found.
2. Yellow, with the same shell. Inside white or yellowish. Very sweet and aromatic. Quite a rare sight.
3. The Costa Rican pitaya is completely red, even the flesh. The skin is almost the same as the red variety.

Useful properties and harm of pitahaya

What contains in the composition:

• calcium, iron, phosphorus, potassium;
• vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6 and C;
• carbohydrates, a little protein, fat and fiber;
• over 80% water.

What is the benefit?

This product contains only 40-50 calories per 100 g. It can be eaten while losing weight, it helps fats break down faster. It is useful for problems with the gastrointestinal tract. Pitaya relieves pain and eliminates bloating, gives a slight laxative effect.

See also the beneficial properties of appetizing and sweet mango in the article:.

Useful for diabetics, as it normalizes blood glucose levels. Helps to improve the condition in diseases of the endocrine and cardiovascular systems. Strengthens the immune system, slows down the aging process. When added to homemade masks, it increases skin elasticity and smoothes wrinkles.

Strengthens bones, teeth, nails and hair. Slows down vision loss. Reduces blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Has anti-inflammatory action. Improves brain function.

It turns out that pitahaya is both a delicious dessert and a means of traditional medicine and cosmetology.

Harm and contraindications

Some people should not use:

• in young children, it contributes to diathesis or problems with the digestive system;
• people with allergies or individual intolerance to any component;
• pregnant and lactating women.

What harm can this fruit cause:

• diarrhea or allergic reaction if tried for the first time;
• heartburn, flatulence, abdominal pain;
• staining urine or feces red if the variety is Costa Rican red.

Advice : if you are trying for the first time, you need to eat a small piece and wait a while. In the absence of allergic reactions, you can safely use pitaya.

How to use

They eat only the pulp, the peel is not suitable for this. Several ways to eat pitahaya:

1. Cut in half, then into long slices (like melon or watermelon).
2. If served as a dessert, cut in half and offer teaspoons. It is convenient for them to eat away the pulp - like ice cream from a creamer.
3. Peel and eat, biting like an apple.
4. Put on a skewer and grill like a marshmallow.

Pitahaya fruit how to eat it useful tips:

1. Fruit Salad – Cut in half and carefully scoop out the flesh. Chop it into small cubes. Cut into pieces of the same size any other fruit: banana, strawberry, kiwi. Place in the peeled halves of the peel and mix. This is a great decoration for your holiday table.
2. The taste will be better if consumed chilled. Therefore, it is worth putting it in the refrigerator for a couple of hours in advance. It is not recommended to combine the delicate fresh flesh of pitahaya with food with a sharp taste.
3. It is in the seeds that useful substances are found. They are poorly digested, so you need to chew them carefully.
4. Dragon fruit is used to make juice and wine. They make a variety of desserts: jelly, yogurt, sherbet, sauce, smoothies, cocktails. Pitahaya is added to confectionery, pastries, various fillings, and dairy products. You can make jam based on this fruit.
5. The flowers are also edible, mainly used as tea additives. They give the drink a delicate aroma and a light aftertaste.

How dragon fruit is prepared in other countries:

1. In Spain, refreshing light drinks are made: lemon or lime juice is mixed with pitahaya juice. Here this drink is considered national.
2. Traditional Central American dessert pitahaya with almonds: cut the fruit in half, carefully remove the pulp and cut into cubes. Beat with a whisk 100 g of soft cream cheese. In the process, add a little 50 ml of condensed milk, 50 g of pre-crushed almonds and fruit pulp. Divide the finished homogeneous mixture in half and fill the halves of the peel. You can use candied fruits as a decoration.
3. In Mexico, the dragon fruit is intended for the production of liqueurs and wines.

How to choose pitaya?

A few tips:

1. Do not buy fruit with dried tips. This means that the collection was a long time ago and this is not the freshest product.
2. Overripe fruit has dark spots on the skin. A normal fruit should be even and bright in color.
3. The pitaya should be slightly soft, avocado-like. If you managed to find only solid, let it lie in the refrigerator for a couple of days.
4. Store in the refrigerator for no more than 5 days. The more time passes, the less useful properties remain.

How to grow at home

This plant is propagated by grafting, cuttings or seeds. Growing at home from seeds is not a difficult task.

The seeds are sold in the store, but it is more efficient to get them from a fresh fruit on your own: a little middle pulp is placed in cheesecloth and kneaded with your hands, then washed under a tap. The resulting seeds can be planted immediately.

Struggling to eat right? Then this natural dessert is for you:

This requires a seedling pot with large drainage holes or a whole container with an average depth. An equal composition of sand, peat and perlite is used as soil.

Seeds are distributed evenly over the entire plane, sprinkled on top with the thinnest layer to cover them. Water them with a sprayer after each drying. The container with seedlings is covered with polyethylene. Twice a day it is necessary to ventilate it. The air temperature in the room should be 22-25 degrees.

After 2-3 weeks, the first shoots will appear. The polyethylene is removed and the seedlings are placed on the window, but not in direct sunlight.

When the mini cacti have grown, it's time to transplant them into separate containers. This should be done every time the previous pot gets small. Another soil is already needed here: common for cacti, or for flowers, but replaced by a third of sand.

An adult plant happily absorbs sunlight. Therefore, the best place for him is the south window with maximum lighting. In summer, the normal temperature for this plant is 27 degrees. It is tolerant of temperature changes up to 0 degrees, so in winter it may well live on an insulated balcony.

Pitahaya is an exotic fruit that has a pleasant unobtrusive taste and many useful properties. Almost no contraindications. From it you can make various sweet dishes or their components. Dragon fruit is easy to grow at home.

Exotic dragon fruit from Thailand is a rare guest in Russian supermarkets. This mysterious hot pink fruit has many unusual names:

• Pitahaya;
• Pitaya;
• dragon heart;
• dragon eye;
• The Dragon;
• prickly pear;
• Dragonfruit;
• Kaumangkon.

There are legends about its origin, and it blooms exclusively at night, as it should be for a plant from ancient fairy tales.

Legend

According to ancient legends, it was the sweet taste of the dragon fruit, which the ancient wars loved so much, that killed the beautiful fire-breathing creatures. No wonder the peel of this fruit resembles dragon scales, because pitahaya is the real heart of a dragon, which could only be obtained by killing it.

So people fought with these giants for the sake of the desired delicacy, until they were all exterminated. The monsters died out, leaving behind amazing fruits that have taken root in Thailand and now grow on their own.

By the way, the same legends assure that a person who has eaten pitaya becomes bolder and more courageous.

Beneficial features

Modern scientists are more restrained in evaluating the beneficial properties of the dragon heart, however, they also note its benefits to human health.

Their research suggests that the dragon is a fruit that:

1. It is a source of protein, calcium, iron, phosphorus, vitamins C, PP, B1, B2, B3;
2. Favorably affects the work of the digestive and cardiovascular systems;
3. Strengthens vision;
4. Useful in diabetes;
5. Helps to reduce weight, avoiding a deficiency of nutrients;
6. Removes waste and toxins;
7. Moisturizes and regenerates the skin.

In folk medicine, it is also credited with the ability to improve memory, heal cuts and increase appetite.

Harmful properties

Eating any exotic food should always be approached with caution. Pitahaya is no exception in this regard. Start with small portions so as not to provoke an allergy. It is better not to treat very young children with this fruit in order to avoid the occurrence of diathesis.

Dragon fruit in large portions can lead to more serious consequences: flatulence, heartburn, diarrhea. So it is better to use it without excessive fanaticism.

Appearance and taste of pitaya

Wild pitahaya, belonging to the Cactus family, is very difficult to confuse with any other plant. It is not just a cactus, but its climbing liana-like climbing variety. The three-lobed stem of such a cactus sometimes reaches a height of 10 meters.

Dragon fruit blooms with large white flowers that emit a delicious aroma. They are called Moon Flowers, because they bloom only at night.

A month and a half after flowering, the fruits themselves, covered with scales, are tied. Their size is commensurate with the size of a radish, and the maximum weight is 1 kilogram.

Pitahaya grows in a tropical climate: South and Central America, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines.

The taste of pitaya is delicate, sweet and slightly sour. It is usually compared to a kiwi or a banana, however the dragon fruit has a more watery consistency.

Varieties

The most popular are 3 types of pitahaya:

1. Red pitaya with white flesh;
2. Costa Rican Rose Pitahaya, which has not only red skin, but also red flesh;
3. The sweetest is yellow pitahaya with white flesh.

How to choose and store pitahaya

The first thing you should pay attention to when buying a dragon fruit is its peel. A bright saturated color with a slight sheen, as well as yellow-green ends of the scales, indicate that the fruit is ripe and can be safely taken. Uneven coloring with pale spots, on the contrary, gives out an immature fruit.

The fact that pitahaya has long been gathering dust on a store shelf can be evidenced by a dried attachment to a cactus, dark spots and pale scales. Too soft or too hard bad sign. Ideally, the heart of a dragon should feel like a ripe kiwi to the touch.

It is necessary to store pitaya in the refrigerator, and the shelf life of the fruit should not exceed three days.

• Not only fruits are valued, but also pitahaya flowers. They are used to make tea and other drinks.
• The taste of the pulp becomes more saturated if it is slightly cooled.
• Dragon fruit is actively used by many manufacturers of perfumes and cosmetics, adding it to masks, creams and shampoos.
• The Aztec tribes were the first to use the dragon's heart for food.
• Some varieties of pitahaya are salty rather than sweet.

90% of the composition of dragon fruit is ordinary water. Eat pitaya, cut into two halves. After that, it is divided into slices or scooped out with a spoon.

One of them is pitahaya. The fruit (you can see the photo below) is also called prickly pear, pitaya and dragon heart. Pitahaya is native to America. It is believed that the Aztecs were the first people to use the plant. And it was around the thirteenth century.

As a rule, the pulp of the so-called dragon heart was eaten raw. Aromatic spices were obtained from its ground and pre-roasted seeds.

Pitahaya is a fruit that is the fruit of a tree or liana cactus. The plant is very unpretentious and can grow even in arid regions of the tropics. Currently, pitahaya is actively cultivated in Mexico and Vietnam, China and Thailand, Japan and the Philippines, as well as Hawaii. The yield of the plant exceeds all expectations. More than thirty tons of exotic fruit are obtained from one hectare.

Pitahaya is a low-calorie fruit. One hundred grams of fresh pulp accounts for no more than forty kcal. Inside the fruit is a white core. It contains many small seeds, similar to poppy seeds. The flesh of the fruit comes off the skin easily.
There are many varieties of pitahaya. In addition to the raspberry fruit with white pulp, there is also its Costa Rican relative. His skin is red. The same color and flesh. There is also a yellow pitahaya. The fruit of this species is distinguished by the same yellow color of the core and surface.

On average, the weight of the fruit is 200-250 gr. Sometimes there are specimens weighing more than a kilogram. How do they eat pitahaya? Highly in a simple way. The fruit is pre-cooled, and then cut into slices or small slices. The pulp from these pieces is eaten with a teaspoon.

However, pitahaya is a fruit, the use of which is possible not only fresh. Residents of Guatemala, Colombia and Nicaragua use its juice in the production of ice cream and sweets, sherbets and yogurts. It is also good for refreshing fresh juices. Pitahaya pulp is often used to make sauces, jams and marmalade. And Mexican farmers make alcoholic drinks from it. In cooking, even the flowers of a tropical plant are used.

They make a very fragrant tea. Not so long ago, prickly pear was used in cosmetology.

The pulp is part of a variety of body and face masks, lotions, serums, scrubs and creams. At the same time, pitahaya extract serves not only as a fragrance. It is also used as a vitamin and mineral raw material. And this is no coincidence. Pitahaya contains ascorbic acid and thiamine, riboflavin and niacin. The fruit is rich in iron and potassium, calcium and phosphorus.

The use of a tropical fruit is indicated for people who experience malfunctions in the endocrine system. These include diabetics. Eating a medicinal fruit helps to heal stomach ulcers. Pitahaya pulp is recommended to be included in the menu while traveling and traveling to tropical countries. An amazing fruit in the shortest possible time will regulate the digestive process, which can be disturbed by changing climatic conditions. The benefits of pitahaya are also great for diseases of the vessels and heart.