So Rowan sent me a few fruits to try this week along with some more cuttings. The fruits this year were not as large as last year--those were the size of large plums. The size of this year's crop is denoted in the images below.
Taste:
Ok, so first off, this really doesn't taste anything like dragonfruit--at all. The consistency is also very different, and difficult to describe. I would describe it as being jelly-like; similar to silken tofu, but in no way slimy.
Taste: Wow! what really blew me away was how much more
intense the flavor is compared to dragonfruit. This immediately hit me because I was expecting this to be about the same in terms of robustness as a red/purple dragon. Not so. This is way, way stronger than that. I would say that it has the same intensity as a jellybean.
As for the flavor itself--and here's the weird part--it tastes so much like passionfruit it is unbelievable. In fact it even smells like passionfruit. In a blind smell test, 9 from 10 people would ID it as a passionfruit. There's not really any hint of dragonfruit in it at all--and neither any creaminess like cactus apples ( cereus peruvianus). It isn't as sour as I thought it would be. There is an initial note of sourness which dissipates quickly. No bitterness at all, even in the flesh closest to the skin. About as sweet as a good dragonfruit.
One interesting thing about it is that the taste seems to cling to the palate. I guess what I'm saying is that it lingers--certainly much more than dragonfruit. Normally I wouldn't like this, but this thing is delicious.
There's more flavors in there then passionfruit however, and the two that come mind are lychee, and Ribena. Its like a really firm pudding cup with flavors in the following ratios:
Passionfruit:3
Ribena: 1
lychee: 1
I will absolutely be growing several of these. I am told by Rowan that the mature plant is self fertile and sets a lot of fruit even in its frigid location of Victoria, so in my semi-tropical climate, it should hopefully go nuts.
So my final verdict is that this is pretty awesome. I would rate it at least as good as any dragonfruit I've tried and better than many of them. Certainly it has a more intense and complex flavor. The fact that this thing is spineless, and will fruit in total shade with minimal care is an added bonus, as is the plant's small size. The only con I can think of is the relatively small fruit size ( there were about 3 teaspoon scoops per fruit in the ones displayed)--but again, apparently the fruit get much larger than the ones sent to me, and it is a prolific fruiter.
Will be crossing this with Rixford/ American beauty this year and will grow out the results, but I'd be happy if this thing never changed