What is pitaya? I had no idea until I looked it up. Pitaya is the fruit of several cactus species, including dragonfruit. As a dragonfruit lover, I felt a little embarrassed not knowing this.
Not only does dragonfruit look cool and exotic to match its name, it’s also considered a superfruit with lots of healthy nutrients and antioxidants. I buy it whenever I can to eat alone or to bake with.
Recently I was sent some samples of Pitaya Plus juice to try. Pitaya juice uses dragonfruit from Central America, which have a vibrant magenta colored flesh. I’ve only been able to get my hands on the white flesh ones unfortunately so I don’t know how the magenta ones taste. I really love the pink bottles these drinks are packaged in.
One of the things that really stood out to me about this juice is the super low sugar content. As my metabolism has begun to slow down and I can no longer down thousands of calories without gaining an once of weight like my teenage days, one of the things first things I reduced from my normal diet are juices. First, because most juice available on the market are so sweet, instead of quenching my thirst, it just makes me thirstier. So when I’m thirsty I tend to stick to water. Second, juice has so many deceptive calories and carbohydrates thanks to all the sugar. Even juices without additional sugar added to it tend to come from dozens of high-sugar content fruits squeezed together to give you that one glass. Normally, you wouldn’t be able to consume that many oranges or apples or whatever fruit is in your juice. But by getting rid of all the flesh, you’re able to consume all those calories and carbs in a few gulps. Yikes.
Pitaya is a low sugar fruit. If you’ve ever had a dragonfruit, it’s only mildly sweet.
My first gulp of this juice was such a shock to the taste buds. It was so…not sweet. Even though I knew that going in, it still messed a little with my head and my taste buds. After a few sips though, I got used to it and could enjoy the subtle sweetness. I could really taste the dragonfruit and it pretty much tasted like how I would imagine dragonfruit would taste as a juice.
Because it’s so low in sugar, it is a great thirst quencher. And it lets me enjoy juice without worrying about drinking unnecessary large amounts of sugar. One bottle is 1.3 servings, and only 16 carbohydrates. I also love that you can see the little black dots from the dragonfruit.
The ones I sampled were a combination of pitaya plus coconut water. I love coconut water, but I didn’t really taste it much in this drink. I think the pitaya dominated in taste.
Pitaya juice is currently available at Whole Foods. You can also buy them online here.
Please note, I received six free bottles to sample from the company. However I was not compensated for this review and my opinions are my own.
the color of the juice is so pretty! i like how this is low in sugar as well.
heheh, i know what you mean about the slowed down metabolism. 🙁
Yeah, I love the vibrant magenta color! Heh. I distinctly remember when I was in high school and one of my teachers/after school activities coach was telling me that when I get older my metabolism will slow down and I won’t be able to down as much food without gaining weight. I didn’t believe him. I always think back to that now.