Israeli passion fruit is brightly colored and super tangy.

If you ever bite into a passion fruit from Israel, you might become smitten. They're called "passion" fruit for a reason. Those having a love affair with the unusual produce of the vine in hot countries taste something close to heaven. Sour and tangy, the passion fruit juice is bright yellow, and is eaten by spooning the fruit out of its shell along with edible seeds enveloped in a gooey casing.

Now, growers from Israel are using expert breeding techniques to introduce a new exotic taste sensation - the dragon fruit, or pitaya.

Needs less water and no pesticides

Grower Yossi Zaphrir

Yossi Zaphrir, CEO and owner of Top Eden Fruits, has already made a name in the Israeli exotic fruit business. The octogenarian believes that his dragon fruit is superior to the variety that's grown in Vietnam.

A bonus is that the Bilu variety, due to yield its first fruits this summer, can be grown in desert conditions. As they did with the passion fruit, which ordinarily thrives in lush, wet tropical climates, Israeli growers use drip irrigation so the pitaya grows heartily with about one-third less water. And they don't need pesticides, Zaphrir emphasizes.

Originating in the South American jungle, the pitaya was first introduced to Vietnam by French colonialists about 100 years ago. But the variety grown in Vietnam, now the world-leading exporter of the strange-looking fruit, has a pulp that is white, and rather bland in flavor.

Pitaya, or dragon, fruit

Thanks to the efforts of growers like Zaphrir, Israeli growers are developing new water-efficient varieties, ones with hot pink and red pulp - even shades of purple - with tangier tastes and a longer shelf life. Agronomists at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have developed the Venus and the Golden varieties of the pitaya - marked by the red, purple and pink pulp - for the European markets constantly demanding new Israeli produce.

A knack for exotics

Israelis have a knack for breeding unique exotic varieties and then making them profitable. Other examples include the kiwi and the avocado. Zaphrir says that exotics are trendy and profitable for several reasons - not the least of which are the health benefits, as they come packed with anti-oxidants and vitamins.

Based in Kfar Bilu, the exotic fruit business Zaphrir runs is a bit of a family affair: his son-in-law is in charge of production, and Zaphrir, with a master's degree in sub-tropical horticulture, does some breeding while running the company of four fulltime employees and a dozen Thai farmhands who do the picking and shipping to countries in Europe and North America.

For passion fruit that he exports, Zaphrir relies on genetic breeding techniques from the nearby Volcani Agricultural Research Center of the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. "They've created a very unique [passion fruit], and from my experience, and being in the European market, I have never met such a tasty variety," he says. The Volcani "Passion Dream" has been bred in Israel for about 12 years.

Like any grower, Zaphrir is looking to extend the season for exotics. The passion fruit and pitaya can yield more than one harvest per year.

World-class irrigation technologies

A type of cactus, the pitaya is best grown in pots so growers can control them hydroponically. The dragon fruit flower blossoms only for a few hours at night, and must be pollinated by hand before the fruit closes in the morning.

As the first to introduce pitaya to Israel, and then export it in 1996, Zaphrir is head of the Israeli Growers of Pitaya and of the Passion Fruit Table in the Plant Board of Israel. Despite being more than a decade beyond retirement age, he is actively working to make sure Israel's exotic varieties stay rooted in the soil of the Holy Land.

Today, his company exports about 30 to 50 tons of passion fruit annually. And he is expecting to export 40 or 50 tons of his specially cultivated pitaya this year, starting in June. This will give many consumers a different taste to what they might be used to from Vietnam - still the biggest pitaya producer in the world, exporting 80 percent of its 200,000-ton crop per year to China and Europe. Zaphrir is certain these markets will prefer the taste of the Israeli ones.