Bonus Fruit Tree of the Day: Durian
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To make up for missing a post Sunday, here’s a bonus tree: Durian. This is related to jakfruit, but it only grows in the tropics. No tips for how to make this one grow in Florida–it won’t. Only huge trees bear fruit, so you can’t even grow it in a greenhouse.
Durian has a very intense, unusual taste—with an equally strong unusual, odor. It has become a meme fruit: When someone wants to talk about how bad something tastes or smells, they’ll point to durian. It’s pollinated by flies, so the flower and exterior of the fruit smell like dung. The interior of the fruit doesn’t, so if you can hold your nose while cutting it and walk away when eating it, you may not notice… Yeah, not very convincing. There’s a reason it’s a meme fruit.
I’ve had “fresh” durian before and was unimpressed with the taste; I wanted to spit it out instantly and certainly didn’t savor the taste. I put fresh in quotes because it’s impossible to really get fresh durian here. It’s only popular in Southeast Asia, so it’s only grown there. As noted, it can’t be grown in the mainland US, either. If you’ve had some before, keep in mind the fruit was shipped frozen, from the other side of the world, for a few months before it arrived to you “fresh.” I don’t like off-season mangoes that are shipped frozen, either, and I love mangoes.
Supposedly, this tastes very different when it’s actually fresh. If you ever find yourself in Southeast Asia (especially Thailand) give it a try! Don’t let the odor or look scare you; you may only get one chance, so give it a try! Some Americans swear by the fresh fruit too, so it’s not just people that are used to it that like it. A member of a tropical fruit forum that I frequent has the handle “durianlover” and plans trips to Thailand specifically to get as many fresh durians as he can. I want to try it if I ever go to Thailand. Hopefully I’ve convinced some of you, too.
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Besides having fresh-frozen durian, I’ve also bought:
/image durian hard candy
It’s weird. Most people I’ve shared with are not a fan.
@RiotDemon Yeah, candies usually don’t taste much like the fruit they’re emulating. Cherry and grape are obvious examples. If you only ever had grape-flavored candy, would you ever have the inclination to try a real grape? (I hate grape candy but like real grapes)
I guess durian is even harder to approximate with a candy, because it has so many unique flavors together. Freezing it mixes all those flavors together into an awful mess, so I guess trying to mix them all together in a candy does the same thing.
@Weboh turns out “fake grape” flavor is actually a type of grape. Not one that I would want to eat. I don’t remember what it is called.
/google what type of grape is grape flavor
Why do grape-flavored foods taste different than actual grapes …
https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/81031/why-do-grape-flavored-foods-taste-different-than-actual-grapes
From that link:
Yay, Durian!
These are sold at my local Asian market, wrapped in netting.
@OldCatLady The netting makes it into a more efficient weapon.
I’ve had fresh durian.
Tastes like vanilla ice cream, soaked in kerosene, and dunked in the outhouse pit.
It’s the “king of fruits”.
It made my face numb.
It makes your sweat smell like durian. Anyone near you knows that you’ve eated durian.
It is evil.
I wholeheartedly recommend trying it!
BTW, those fruits are about the size of heavy rugby balls, and can kill you if they fall on you. The branches are 50-ish feet high, with netting underneath to catch them.
Source: Malaysia.
@G1 Nice to know. Not sure how much is hyperbole and how much is actually accurate.
When did you go to Malaysia? Are you originally from there?
@Weboh Not really too much hyperbole, if any. The sewage smell doesn’t affect the taste - beside the fact that it smells like an open sewer while you are eating it.
It is illegal to fly with it, since it will give the plane the stanks.
If I was FROM Malaysia, then I would be trying to convince everyone in the world that durian is the greatest fruit ever. That would be, like, my full-time job.
Also, there are a few varieties of durian. Some of them are not quite as potent as others, so I was told.
I had the big guy from Penang, the musang king. The road-side stand guy had an apparatus that looked like a metal lathe that he cranked into the ends to crack it open.
@G1 Neat. I want to go to Malaysia at some point. What was the trip like? Did you tour with a company?
Catching durian:
@RiotDemon She has some skills. She’s had a lot of practice. Funny they don’t just catch it a bag. Looks like way too much work to learn to use the sheet.
Had fresh durian recently. I was disappointed. Does not live up to the hype by any means.
It doesn’t smell awful, it just smells strong and the smell sticks around for awhile. If you’ve ever had a fresh jackfruit, you know what I mean. There’s a stale version of the smell that can last a few days after the fruit is eaten that’s not exactly pleasant, but I wouldn’t call it bad, either. Overall, the smell is just meh.
Not impressed by the taste, either. Supposedly durian is love it or hate it, but again… Meh. I guess I can see why people like it, and if I ate a lot more I could grow to like it, too, but it doesn’t taste good enough to want to do that (plus if I do grow to love it and then can’t have it again, I’ll just be depressed so what’s the point?).
My face wasn’t numb and my sweat didn’t smell like durian, but I did get a case of durian burps (I burped extra and they smelled and tasted like durian).
On a scale of 1-10, where 1 is black cavendish bananas and 10 is fresh mangosteens, I rate durian a solid 5. Meh.