Eat a durian

If mangosteen is the Queen of Fruit, Durian is the King. I love Durian. I’ve eaten them in Hong Kong, Singapore, Maylasia, Thailand, Cambodia, and Indonesia. My first taste came in Thailand some years back. I have to admit, it took a little getting used to, kind of like dog shit custard, but after that first try, I was hooked. There are various types of durian, kind of like apples have types. Some small, some large, some eaten harder, some soft and gooy when best. The durian seller holds it up and knocks on it and sniffs it to tell if it’s just right to eat. Taxis and hotels won’t allow them in (well, most hotels). That smell stays with you for a long time, even if you wash your hands and brush your teeth. Durian is a hot fruit, so never drink hard booze with it, it can put you in a coma. Durian is the only fruit a tiger will eat, because of its smell. In most of SE Asia, durian is just a coveted expensive delicious fruit, but in Indonesia it is regarded as an aphrodisiac. The expression is, “When the durain comes down, the sarong comes up”. When I’m on a durian Jones, I just follow my nose. You can smell a durian stand a mile away.

Love it, both the smell and the taste

Saw this at the supermarket today, and having been following a few raw food blogs that raved about it, thought I’d give it a try. My bit of adventurousness for the week. Started by googling how to open it, and thank heaven I did (note the plastic lid under the thing). Got it open, but removing the pods felt like I was handling body organs. Even worse, if you look closely at the pic one of the sections at the top left I had to slide my hand into to get the pods. I suspect I now know what performing a caesarian feels like.

With that, I gamely took a nibble. Smell wasn’t too bad, at least freshly opened, but the texture was a bit weird. Like a slightly solidified custard. I gave up after a few bites, and hunted down recipes. The easiest solution was to blend the thing and mix it with either water or milk (one place recommended adding condensed milk) – the water/fruit mix is in front of me being drunk very slowly as I type. The balance of the blended stuff I mixed with some cream and a bit more water for the consistency and have it in the freezer to make home made ice cream out of it.

It’s actually quite nice, and grows on you the more you try it. I suspect my impressions during the opening process and previous reading about it’s smell (comparisons to eating fruit in sewers and public toilets for the most part) made it a bit harder to enjoy, but now I know what to expect it might be different – so I might just do it again someday to see.

I bought one small piece wrapped in 2 plastic bags and from the smell I thought I could give it a try. The taste is very complicated and hard to describe. I like the sweet and creamy taste of it, but some stinky part of it keeps holding me back from fully enjoying it. I don’t know if it’s an acquired taste.. otherwise I probably won’t be buying again. The smell in the apartment now is not too pleasant..

My last night in Kuala Lumpur and we saw it in a stall, the smell of it is what made us notice it and stop walking, had to try it, unbelievably bad, couldnt finish it but we gave it to 2 malaysian loacals we had met earlier that day and the happily gulped it down… Our world is one crazy place…

A few years ago I was working with a woman from Vietnam. She told me about this smelly fruit that tasted wonderful she had all the time back home. Well, I went to the local Asian market, found a durian and brought it to work the next day. My coworker chided me for not picking out a good one. How was I supposed to know what a good one looked like? They’re all round and prickly. We started cutting it open in the employee lunchroom for an afternoon snack, and we began to attract some attention as it was quite a strange sight. Someone said it looked like we were killing a hedgehog. Despite the commotion, I really enjoyed tasting this…

Smells pretty bad, tastes like marzipan.

where durian can be purchased in Florida, or the U.S.?

Sometimes I like to eat a piece of really strong cheese with some fruit or jam. Stilton with a piece of pear, for instance. Or a Spanish goat’s cheese with quince paste. Parmesan with fig jam. Eating a durian fell in line with this sort of experience. There is no reason to be scared—it’s just fruit, no matter what it smells like.

Try it. You’ll like it.