Dragon Fruit Nebulae chocolate

I was experimenting with powdered dragon fruit (pitaya) this weekend — fun, and so easy. Just melt white chocolate chips in the microwave (1/2 power for 2-3 minutes, stir), and then stir in some of the powdered dragon fruit (intensely purple!) to make a truly beautiful natural chocolate. If you’re going for an all-natural Easter table, this would be a great addition.

I’m really happy with the decorating here. I used two different molds — one that makes little crystal shapes, and one that gives a geometric breakaway surface to a bar, both good. I don’t love having the dried fruit in first, though, as it makes a lot of holes in the cool geometric surface; for the next one, I’m pouring in the chocolate, and then adding the dried fruit to what will become the base of the bar.

I brushed some more dragon fruit powder over the top, and followed that with edible gold dust, and I really love the resulting look — I’ve already decided to call the final bar my Dragon Fruit Nebulae chocolate, because look how cool and space-y! 

The flavor, though, is quite faint; dragon fruit just doesn’t have a strong flavor. Nice, but barely there, and adding more dragon fruit powder doesn’t do much to boost the flavor.

I tried adding in some chopped dried pineapple — not bad, definitely more interesting chocolates with the dried fruit, but dried pineapple is too sweet to really contrast with the sweetness of the white chocolate. I thought candied ginger might work, but when I dipped a piece in and tasted it, the result just didn’t seem happy to me. The ginger itself was too assertive and interesting, and everything else disappeared. I prefer dark chocolate to play with candied ginger, I think.

Then I thought about adding a bit of citric acid to the chocolate to bring out some tang; I also thought about trying some white pepper for a bit of a surprise. But instead, decided to try dried cranberries. Those are setting now; fingers crossed!

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