EACH year the Queensland Country Women's Association nominates a primary product of the year and this year it has nominated an unconventional product.
Create a free account to read this article
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
For 2023, the QCWA has nominated dragonfruit as its product of the year.
This means that the QCWA kitchens team develops a suite of resources and recipes in the hope of promoting dragonfruit to consumers and home cooks.
Lena and Per Andersen started growing dragonfruit near Mareeba just over five years ago after asking around for a crop that was easy to grow.
"We were looking for a crop that didn't need a lot of water," Mr Andersen said.
"We have no town water or power here and being a tropical cactus it doesn't require a lot of water.
"It doesn't need a lot of maintenance, we just mow and weed and there was a bit of trimming and training in the beginning but now it more or less grows by itself."
The Andersens got their original cuttings from a friend who was trying to cut it back.
"They said they were sick and tired of it as it was taking over their backyard," Mr Andersen said.
"So we took a trailer load of cuttings and that was enough to get us started."
The Andersens have 210 posts with a couple of plants on each post.
The season starts in late November and they are currently collecting what they believe will be the last crop of the season.
"We still have some green fruit, but that will be the end of it for this season," Ms Andersen said.
"In the beginning the hardest part was getting them to grow until we discovered the right combination of fertilisers, that really helped.
"Now the hardest part is fighting the birds off."
Dragonfruit, pitaya or strawberry pear is the fruit of several different cactus species indigenous to the regions of southern Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and El Salvador.
The common English name, dragonfruit is derived from the leather-like skin and scaly spikes on the fruit's exterior. Depending on the variety it may have sweet- or sour-tasting flesh that can be red, white, or yellow in colour.
Despite being easy to grow, Mr Andersen said that not a lot of people consumed dragonfruit and they hoped to change that.
"The flesh is very soft, they are very watery and they are very juicy and have a very subtle flavour," he said.
"Some people like eating them out of the shell, you can also add it to yogurt and smoothies.
"A lot of people don't know that the plant has a huge beautiful flower that only opens at night and also that it's a self pollinating fruit.
"We only produce around three tonnes a year and the local ice creamery buys our seconds for their sorbets."
Since 2002, the QCWA has promoted a primary product each year.
The decision is made at QCWA council level by secret ballot as to which one gets selected.
Sign up here to Good Fruit and Vegetables weekly newsletter for all the latest horticulture news each Thursday...
