Florida-based tropical fruit importer HLB Specialties is upbeat for the prospects of yellow dragon fruit in the United States following two successful shipments to kick off Ecuador as a newly available country of origin. 

In a statement, operations director Andres Ocampo told Fresh Fruit Portal the fruit was brought in via air freight to service both East and West Coast markets.

"So far we have had great reception from our customers, one of them mentioning that he had never called back as fast as he did after receiving our pitahaya (dragon fruit) samples," Ocampo said.

"We measured brix on the fruit and we got 24, which is between two to three times as high as what you get on the red dragon fruit, which is sometimes compared to pitahaya although they bear different PLUs (price look-up code)," he said of brix, a common measurement for sweetness in the fruit sector.

"We will have the fruit available at our booth (#3653) at PMA Fresh Summit for our customers to sample an enjoy the newly available product in the USA."

He added the season would be year-round but with lower volumes in May and June.

"We are aiming for customers who crave new flavors and are looking for a different product that carries a lot of taste," he said.

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