The tastiest fruit is fresh beles in #Eritrea, right after a summer rain. Beles came from the Americas, but the ones in California taste completely different from those in Eritrea. Nothing comes close to the magic of beles, except...yellow #DragonFruit! A thread.

Early colonizers noticed beles fruit in the Americas and introduced it to Europe. Italians later brought it with them to Eritrea. In Spanish it’s called tunas, and in English it’s sometimes called cactus pears, Indian figs, or prickly pears.

My parents have tried prickly pear in the US, & it never tastes like beles. Perhaps prickly pear grew a new variation in Eritrea. Perhaps I just need to request tunas at the right Mexican market. But this year we found a fruit that comes very close to conjuring the magic of beles

There are 3 types of dragon fruit: red, white & yellow. Red & white are mild, but the yellow ones are bursting with flavor, like the most mouthwatering kiwi and watermelon rolled into one. I sent my parents some to try over Xmas, & they were stunned by the similarity to beles.

I haven’t given up on finding beles in the US. Perhaps one day I’ll do a road trip through the prickly pear farms of Arizona and Texas, maybe even taste some after a summer rain. Until then, I’m grateful 2020 introduced my family to yellow dragon fruit.