Why is this the longest section on this page? Because I love the whole idea of durians. More than anything else, they gave me the idea, the motivation, and the strength to start Weird-Food.com.
A fruit as big as a football, covered with tough spiky skin. The pulp is pale yellow, with shape and consistency of raw brains. Smell has been compared to rotting flesh, old gym socks, or sewage. Yet the taste has been called so exquisite that a European explorer of the 1700's claimed it was worth the journey to experience it; "the King of fruits." Many believe it aphrodisiac and hold durian-eating parties. Most hotels, and so on, forbid it on the premises. In Malaysia, a friend of mine witnessed someone on a bus grab another person's durian and throw it out the window, after another passenger threw up.
In USA cities with an Asian neighborhood, you can find the entire bizarre fruit frozen, or you can pay considerably more (I paid about $8.00 for a pound) and get a plastic box of durian flesh removed from the husk. When thawed, the consistency is like flan or custard--in fact, it has the same pale yellow color--surrounding large pits in the whole fruit. Eat it with a spoon or follow recipes for various desserts. I think it resembles tapioca pudding flavored with cooked onion. Weird but not nasty. There is great variation with season, location, variety, individual fruits, and, I hear, even individual lobes within some fruits.
A fruit as big as a football, covered with tough spiky skin. The pulp is pale yellow, with shape and consistency of raw brains. Smell has been compared to rotting flesh, old gym socks, or sewage. Yet the taste has been called so exquisite that a European explorer of the 1700's claimed it was worth the journey to experience it; "the King of fruits." Many believe it aphrodisiac and hold durian-eating parties. Most hotels, and so on, forbid it on the premises. In Malaysia, a friend of mine witnessed someone on a bus grab another person's durian and throw it out the window, after another passenger threw up.
In USA cities with an Asian neighborhood, you can find the entire bizarre fruit frozen, or you can pay considerably more (I paid about $8.00 for a pound) and get a plastic box of durian flesh removed from the husk. When thawed, the consistency is like flan or custard--in fact, it has the same pale yellow color--surrounding large pits in the whole fruit. Eat it with a spoon or follow recipes for various desserts. I think it resembles tapioca pudding flavored with cooked onion. Weird but not nasty. There is great variation with season, location, variety, individual fruits, and, I hear, even individual lobes within some fruits.
GET DURIAN PRODUCTS!
Eating durian is like eating pesto or other garlic dishes; you do have to plan the social occasion around its persistent odor. Don't create a negative experience by neglecting this aspect. You wouldn't give a first date a garlicky salad dressing, would you?
Asian markets often have cookies, crackers, candy, and so on, flavored with durian, and I bought a small bottle of flavoring extract just for fun. The cookies (like ice-cream-cone wafers sandwiched with durian-flavored frosting) were amazingly smelly when I first got them, but the flavor gradually faded away as they got stale.
In Malaysia they don't even allow you to carry one in a rental car. Special stickers on the car, kinda like no smoking ones, tell you will be fined for having one in the car! From: Gudrun Achtenhagen.
Durians--there are many many varieties. Some more pungent, others more fragrant and others thoroughly insipid. BTW it is eaten fresh as a fruit, with coconut rice (lemak) and also fermented as a side dish. From: Chong Angela.
The way I made myself to start eating durian was that I forced myself to eat the whole good clove durian. You will feel disgusting to eat it at the beginning. But once you have tried the whole good clove, you will fond of it. From: Keith Lo.
Reading the past few articles just reminded me of the way I reacted to certain strong smelling cheese when I was visiting my friends in Europe... the same way that some of you reacted to the smell of durian. :) From: Karen Khim Hwa Yeo.
Of all the durians you should try is the "sampa durian" or wild durian. These are usually found growing in the wild and not in some plantation. When I was serving with the army, the training areas are littered with many sampa durian trees. These durians are smaller, more pungent and sweeter. Durians cannot be plucked. You have to wait for them to fall of the tree. When they fall, don't be under them.
The platoon usually hunt for fallen durians when they go to training areas. First you smell their presence and try to locate them. Finally you see them, pick them up and pry them open. There may be some maggots and worms already eating it, but what the heck, we eat the non-infested pulp. It is all worth it. When the military exercise ends, the training grounds are littered with empty durian shells. A sure sign that the Singapore Armed Forces have been here--Jin Ngee, Chia.
Durian is the King of Fruit. You should all be so lucky to have access to Durian. If there are gods, the gods eat Durian. I would rather eat Durian than pizza. However, to keep all in perspective, I would rather have sex than eat Durian. But Durian is definitely second on my list. From: Alice Ramirez.
Ah, yes, the peculiar joy of Durian candy. After some months of reflection, I realized exactly what it tastes like: Imagine eating sweetened coconut while continuously inhaling natural gas... From: Dan Cohen.
When I lived in the Philippines, it was described to me as "like eating pudding in an outhouse, " and I never heard a better description. From: Carl A Pforzheimer.
I always thought China Town in London had bad drains until I discovered the durian! A group of us clubbed together and bought one once (too expensive for one person,) we had a whole tube compartment to ourselves on the way home and our host made us store it in the garden overnight! We ate it the next day and while it smelt disgusting the taste was pretty amazing--very rich and quite yummy. Only problem was for the next few days all 'burps' tasted like old drains (or what I imagine they'd taste like!]. From: Linda Garthwaite.
When I lived in Singapore a bunch of people from work took me out at the height of the fresh season (I'm thinking around May or so) and between 8 of us we downed 13 of the beasts.
They kept warning me about being careful to not get to "heaty". Never did figure out what that meant. From: Jim Parent) This is another interesting aspect of durians. Many people believe them to be aphrodisiac, and this puts a certain edge on the parties where people gather to indulge communally in an "orgy" of durian-eating. This would also account for the warning signs prohibiting durian in hotel rooms.--Ray Bruman
Durians! January and July is durian season in Malaysia and Singapore! The fruit is now found all over stalls in the markets and if you are in Malaysia, makeshift stalls on the highway!
Here we never get it frozen. Goodness! I've never heard of frozen durians. It's always fresh.
How to pick one? These are just general pointers:
Always pick one up to shake. Yep! shake the fruit. Now if you hear like rocks knocking inside, leave it. There might be maggots in there that has gotten in there before you do.
Ask the seller to pry one open for inspection. Just a glance would do. flesh should be yellowish like custard with lots of milk. The smell must be overpowering. Look for again tell-tale signs for maggot infestation. That is black spots, certain larvae eggs and other unpleasant stuff.
Asian markets often have cookies, crackers, candy, and so on, flavored with durian, and I bought a small bottle of flavoring extract just for fun. The cookies (like ice-cream-cone wafers sandwiched with durian-flavored frosting) were amazingly smelly when I first got them, but the flavor gradually faded away as they got stale.
In Malaysia they don't even allow you to carry one in a rental car. Special stickers on the car, kinda like no smoking ones, tell you will be fined for having one in the car! From: Gudrun Achtenhagen.
Durians--there are many many varieties. Some more pungent, others more fragrant and others thoroughly insipid. BTW it is eaten fresh as a fruit, with coconut rice (lemak) and also fermented as a side dish. From: Chong Angela.
The way I made myself to start eating durian was that I forced myself to eat the whole good clove durian. You will feel disgusting to eat it at the beginning. But once you have tried the whole good clove, you will fond of it. From: Keith Lo.
Reading the past few articles just reminded me of the way I reacted to certain strong smelling cheese when I was visiting my friends in Europe... the same way that some of you reacted to the smell of durian. :) From: Karen Khim Hwa Yeo.
Of all the durians you should try is the "sampa durian" or wild durian. These are usually found growing in the wild and not in some plantation. When I was serving with the army, the training areas are littered with many sampa durian trees. These durians are smaller, more pungent and sweeter. Durians cannot be plucked. You have to wait for them to fall of the tree. When they fall, don't be under them.
The platoon usually hunt for fallen durians when they go to training areas. First you smell their presence and try to locate them. Finally you see them, pick them up and pry them open. There may be some maggots and worms already eating it, but what the heck, we eat the non-infested pulp. It is all worth it. When the military exercise ends, the training grounds are littered with empty durian shells. A sure sign that the Singapore Armed Forces have been here--Jin Ngee, Chia.
Durian is the King of Fruit. You should all be so lucky to have access to Durian. If there are gods, the gods eat Durian. I would rather eat Durian than pizza. However, to keep all in perspective, I would rather have sex than eat Durian. But Durian is definitely second on my list. From: Alice Ramirez.
Ah, yes, the peculiar joy of Durian candy. After some months of reflection, I realized exactly what it tastes like: Imagine eating sweetened coconut while continuously inhaling natural gas... From: Dan Cohen.
When I lived in the Philippines, it was described to me as "like eating pudding in an outhouse, " and I never heard a better description. From: Carl A Pforzheimer.
I always thought China Town in London had bad drains until I discovered the durian! A group of us clubbed together and bought one once (too expensive for one person,) we had a whole tube compartment to ourselves on the way home and our host made us store it in the garden overnight! We ate it the next day and while it smelt disgusting the taste was pretty amazing--very rich and quite yummy. Only problem was for the next few days all 'burps' tasted like old drains (or what I imagine they'd taste like!]. From: Linda Garthwaite.
When I lived in Singapore a bunch of people from work took me out at the height of the fresh season (I'm thinking around May or so) and between 8 of us we downed 13 of the beasts.
They kept warning me about being careful to not get to "heaty". Never did figure out what that meant. From: Jim Parent) This is another interesting aspect of durians. Many people believe them to be aphrodisiac, and this puts a certain edge on the parties where people gather to indulge communally in an "orgy" of durian-eating. This would also account for the warning signs prohibiting durian in hotel rooms.--Ray Bruman
Durians! January and July is durian season in Malaysia and Singapore! The fruit is now found all over stalls in the markets and if you are in Malaysia, makeshift stalls on the highway!
Here we never get it frozen. Goodness! I've never heard of frozen durians. It's always fresh.
How to pick one? These are just general pointers:
Always pick one up to shake. Yep! shake the fruit. Now if you hear like rocks knocking inside, leave it. There might be maggots in there that has gotten in there before you do.
Ask the seller to pry one open for inspection. Just a glance would do. flesh should be yellowish like custard with lots of milk. The smell must be overpowering. Look for again tell-tale signs for maggot infestation. That is black spots, certain larvae eggs and other unpleasant stuff.
, some facts about durians:
- Sir Stamford Raffles who founded Singapore didn't like it a damn bit.
- The nation that has banned durians is Singapore. It is only banned on buses and the subway due to its overpowering odor.
- Durians cannot be plucked from the tree. You have to wait for it to drop from the tree. When it does, you better not be there. The fruit usually drops at night for reasons no one knows.
- Durians are fattening. So not all fruits are healthy. Anyway to SEA peoples, eating durians is almost equivalent to eating meat.
- Thai durians are the largest in size. They have more flesh and are the most expensive.
- Durian plantations are often robbed in Malaysia. During seasons such as this current one, armed men often keep a vigil over their precious investments dropping at night.
- Wild durians are more tasty than plantation grown durians. There are some pockets of rainforests in Singapore that grows durian trees. So it is open season for enthusiasts who venture to these places for the hunt.
- The durian is crowned as the King of Fruits by peoples of SEA.
- After eating durians, your "durian breath" will linger for up to 6 hours. Durian breath is so bad, it ranked higher than garlic in terms of unpleasantness.
- Durian is made into many forms besides durian ice-cream. There is durian candy which is called durian dodol, durian custard which is much sweeter and durian cake, much highly sought after by durian enthusiasts.
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