Use shears to clip away any thorns that you can’t reach with the brush. Thorns only grow on the more rare yellow dragon fruit, so you don’t have to worry about thorns when picking the more popular red or purple varieties.
To speed up the picking process, you can also use a knife or a pair of garden shears to cut through the stalk at the top of the fruit. [5] X Research source If you use a knife, cut as close to the fruit as possible so you don’t leave an extra stump of cactus stalk at the top. If the fruit doesn’t come away easily, it likely isn’t ripe enough yet. Leave the fruit attached to the stalk and let it ripen for a little longer. [6] X Research source
The inside of a fresh dragon fruit should be an opaque white with black seeds. If the fruit looks translucent or brown, it’s gone bad. [9] X Research source After cutting the dragon fruit open, you can store it in a plastic ziploc bag for up to 3-4 days.
