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The Dragonfruit is a columnar jungle cactus that somehow ended up in our lands, clinging to the ravines, seeking shade and humidity. It is an introduced species but not invasive, as it does not harm the environment. Being a cactus, it requires very little water, making it ideal for conserving and protecting the environment and preventing water scarcity. Its fertilizers are ecological, and at Dragón Ibériko, we focus on finding a unique quality, both in size and taste.
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Dragonfruit is a fruit known relatively recently in our country. It can be said that most of the fruit consumed until now is imported. This is a factor that has harmed it more than helped it, as being a fruit that does not ripen post-cut, it must be cut and consumed at its optimal ripeness and avoid long journeys for its distribution and consumption. This guarantees the consumption of a fruit of better quality, in terms of flavor and texture.
Dragonfruit, or Pitahaya, began to be produced on a large scale in Europe in a small coastal town in the Murcia region: Águilas. Its origins are important, since this jungle cactus could be found in the surrounding ravines, in the wild. It was native here long before we knew its fruit. The gardens of the houses in Águilas tangled these cacti that curiously some summer nights, gave large and perfumed white flowers. Flowers that opened at dusk and died the next morning, with the first lights of dawn and the intense heat of summer. As if it were a magical story.
The microclimate of Águilas, so tropical, due to its warm winter days and humidity, make the Dragonfruit thrive so well. But at that time, something was missing in the equation. Even with flowers, their pollination was not possible, as Spain does not have the large insects and nocturnal animals that pollinated its flowers and exchanged their pollen as in other countries in Central America, Latin America, and Asia.
That's when the farmer's hand comes in. It is their hands that, with a small brush, act as nocturnal pollinators. A headlamp on their head and many summer nights of work have made Dragonfruit position itself and gain ground in our lands.
The concern of our farmers has also moved mountains, as until now, there were not enough studies to be able to know the different varieties, ways of cultivating, infrastructures... Many hours of study, trips, calls, visits to other greenhouses in other parts of the world... have made knowledge about Dragonfruit gain ground on the Águilas coast, as well as its growing production, which improves year by year in terms of new commercial varieties, notably corroborated in the quality of its fruits.
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