Dragon Fruit & Rose Hot Pink Milk

When I bought the hot pink dragon fruit I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it. But then Merit came up with a great idea. She has traveled quite a bit and suggested a delicious drink called pink milk. Even though we can’t make it exact, we figured why not make our own version.

Taste testing in this house is a bit of a farce. We have very different palates so coming up with something that we all really love can take a couple of times to perfect. The mild sweetness of the dragon fruit has to be carefully paired in order to not be overwhelmed by the other flavors. So when you make this, keep in mind that florals of any kind tend to be overpowering, use them sparingly.

Picking the Dragon Fruit

It can be really hard to tell whether you’re getting a pink flesh dragon fruit or the white fruit. Choose one with a smooth, shiny skin or cheat and buy it already cut. The flavor differs slightly between the two as the pink has a more cactus pear flavor and the white is much milder. Pink dragon fruit is round and plump where the white is more egg shaped or elongated and the seeds are edible in both.

The Type of Rose Matters

Since this is a raw recipe, I decided to marinate the rose buds after macerating them to bring out their flavor and fragrance. If you’re not able to get fresh English Rose buds, you can usually find the tea. There are options if you’re not super strict on the raw part, you can use rose water. You might not want to add any sugar or cut the sugar in the recipe in half since it’s already sweetened. In the original recipe for pink milk the pink comes from the roses. This is not that light baby pink you might expect. Dragon fruit is naturally the hot pink you see in the photo. Of course if you use the white version of the fruit, it will be very pale by comparison.

The Base

Coconut milk is the base in this recipe and it’s best if you get a fairly young coconut. The flesh should be “spoon meat”, soft and almost gel like. Unfortunately I live in a desert, so I use what I have available to me. Mine wasn’t so young, but I don’t mind it at all, as a matter of fact, I like a lot of my drinks lumpy…yeah…I’m going to stick with that excuse.

Raw Vegan Recipe: Dragon Fruit & Rose Hot Pink Milk

1 medium pink dragon fruit

a cup of fresh young coconut milk

3 tblsp rose syrup

Blend together and enjoy!

Rose Syrup

1/8 cup pulverized raw sugar

1/2 cup filtered water

1/8 macerated English Rose buds

Let steep together at room temperature for at least 2 hours not exceeding 4 hours or it will become bitter. Strain before use. This will keep in the refrigerator for about a week.

*rose syrup pairs great with strawberries too