{"id":13310,"date":"2023-11-10T08:06:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-10T13:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/?p=13310"},"modified":"2023-11-06T14:49:12","modified_gmt":"2023-11-06T19:49:12","slug":"unpeeling-the-mysteries-of-dragon-fruit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/2023\/11\/10\/unpeeling-the-mysteries-of-dragon-fruit\/","title":{"rendered":"Unpeeling the Mysteries of Dragon Fruit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How Neva Day \u201991 cares for the high-maintenance crop at her organic farm in California<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The bright magenta pulp inside the dragon fruit that Neva Day \u201991 has just sliced into quarters adds to its mystery. This curious produce has a \u201cdragon-scale\u201d exterior peel, but the soft, juicy flesh \u2014 a firmness that could fairly be compared to a kiwi \u2014 is dotted with tiny black edible seeds and a subtle sweet and sour taste. It\u2019s such a refreshing treat on a hot day that one wonders why these exotic beauties, also called pitahaya<\/em>, are not more common. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a tour of Wallace Ranch, owned by Day and her partner, Dicky Augustus, the answer is clear: Dragon fruit is a high-maintenance crop requiring extraordinary care and vigilance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a \u2018high-touch\u2019 fruit,\u201d says Day, which explains its lofty price in supermarkets. Each vine yields fruit three to six times a year, and the trees must be hand-trimmed. The fruit is hand-pollinated and handpicked. Each individual young fruit is also wrapped in a net bag to keep birds away \u2014 at $5 each wholesale, it\u2019s a heartbreaker to see a bird-pecked pitahaya on the ground. And given the delicate twisted branches of the cactus vines the dragon fruit grows on, she adds, \u201cno machine can do it for you.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, Day, who actively works the ranch with a few employees, sets out in the early morning hours with a makeup brush in hand, gently transferring the pollen from blossom to blossom to optimize the desired taste and appearance of each bud\u2019s eventual fruit. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Neva
Day handpicks her dragon fruit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Long before Day and Augustus bought the hilltop ranch in 2018, she was already smitten with the dragon fruit she tasted during travels in Thailand and Vietnam, along with its healthy attributes, including antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. When the couple began looking for a new business and lifestyle venture, they discovered this 15-acre \u201cgentleman\u2019s farm\u201d for sale in hilly Bonsall, Calif., northeast of San Diego. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTurns out, it was a gentleman\u2019s farm on steroids, and we went for it,\u201d says Day of the acreage, where they grow and sell more than 50,000 pieces of fruit annually \u2014 among them, Hass avocados, Australian finger limes, passion fruit, citrus, and a dozen other varieties \u2014 to wholesalers, farmers markets, organic markets, restaurants, and Whole Foods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, in those first days, even the real estate agent could see the challenges that lay ahead for the new owners and told them to remember: \u201cFruit rots.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat was the best advice,\u201d says Day, and they quickly got smart about the business of farming. \u201cWe realized we needed to hustle it out.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, Day is no stranger to hustle or hard work: Upon graduation from Colgate with a double major in political science and social science, and a minor in Latin American studies, she started a career with Sears, Roebuck & Co. and then Sears Holdings Corporation in management positions across the country, making her way up the ladder, including a few rungs where she was the first female to tread. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While professional success had been the goal, Day wanted to tackle the athletic dreams she put off during her career. She took a leave of absence and trained as a triathlete.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her daring pivot took her on a circuitous global journey, including marquee Iron Man competitions and victories, which led to competitive cycling \u2014 with daily five-hour workouts \u2014 and a spot on the U.S. National Track Cycling Team competing around the world. \u201cThe funny thing is that I always said I wanted to be a true athlete,\u201d says Day. \u201cAnd it happened when I was 37.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

It was a gentleman\u2019s farm on steroids, and we went for it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Clearly, her intensive endurance training set her up well for the long, physically demanding days on the ranch. With 5,500 plants in the ground, that innate tenacity allowed the couple to transition the expansive property into a certified organic farm: Everything at Wallace Ranch is either edible or a pollinator, says Day, as she picks a pineapple while butterflies quiver about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Up from the terraced orchards and through iron gates, the ranch house is surrounded by a beautifully maintained compound that has a Secret Garden vibe: a paradise for fruit lovers with Peruvian apple, Asian pear, five-graft cherry, goji, cherimoya, guava, pecans, gooseberry, milkweed, aloe, and hundreds of other delights \u2014 even a calla lily field. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Also called pitahaya<\/em>, dragon fruit has a subtle sweet and sour taste.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll the steps in your life will allow you to do what you are doing now,\u201d says Day about the ranch responsibilities. \u201cAnd, of course, you need to be good at all trades.\u201d That, along with patience, trial and error, advice from fellow farmers and customers, tons of research, and expertise on organic pest control: Ants love dragon fruit, she adds, \u201cI\u2019m now proficient with ants.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day says she rarely finds reason to leave the farm\u2019s 15 acres and that Wallace Ranch is a beloved daily challenge. \u201cWe\u2019ve made chaos into sense.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being at Colgate when she was a young kid, Day says, was like \u201cvisiting family.\u201d Her father, Joel \u201960, attended the University, and her grandfather, alumnus and trustee Harold B. Day, Class of 1928, is buried in Colgate Cemetery. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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