Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Durian

Digg!

I picked the other side of the junction at the end of normal jogging trek today. I was going to further my adventure as a continuation of my incomplete story from last week at Mengkuang Dam.

But it turned up to be not so eventful along this winding path. Little butterflies and dragonflies were the only living creatures I had met so far . A brook should be hidden behind the bushes on my right as I could hear the sound of flowing water. One thing that worth mentioning but may not to the local readers is that there was a Durian plantation here.

This was the first time I ever saw the Durian flowers and even interested to know that Durians are pollinated by cave fruit bats. The Durian fruit matures approximately three months after pollination. But different species from different trees may mature at different times, this is why I see Durians are being sold right now though trees over here have just started to bloom.

Durian fruit is revered locally as the "king of fruits". The key word is locally, others may tell the other way. Try to search Google for “how smelly is the Durian", you will get a long list of result with two extreme answers, Travel and food writer Richard Sterling said “its odor is best described as pig-shit, turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock.” Further to this, Anthony Burgess, a British novelist wrote, “Eating Durian is like eating sweet raspberry blancmange in the lavatory”. A British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace did describe that taste as “A rich custard highly flavoured with almonds…but there are occasional wafts of flavor that call to mind cream-cheese, onion sauce, sherry wine and other incongruous dishes.” Its smell can last for a few hours in the car though I keep them for one hour from the stall to home. Anyhow, I love Durian the most, the more I eat and the more I want.

By the way, the name Durian comes from the Malay word duri (thorn) plus the suffix -an (which form a noun in Malay). If you have the chance to take Durians at your place, you may get the species that are not too smelly because they were cut from trees before ripen. Those fall off from trees after ripen fully are considered good Durian for their aroma and alcoholic taste.

Before I leave, one point you have to know: There must be squirrels around beacuse Durian is one of their favourites.

17 comments:

WiseAcre said...

I can understand why I haven't seen any in the grocery stores. The smell of pig-shit, turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock would probably put off sales :) I'm not sure I could get past the smell to taste any.

Megaa said...

I've learnt something new from your ost today, but sadly, I hardly could find any Durian trees where I live. I shall keep my eyes open when I go walking next time.

Btw, what's with the fetish with the squirrells?

Sharkbytes said...

Wow, I've never even heard of one of these. Would love to try it... not promising I would love it... but trying is good.

Anonymous said...

An apt description for the king of fruits. I have never sampled one because of the smell although my Thai partner loves them.

I remember in Singapore seeing prohibition signs for them on the subway. (A red circle with a picture of the fruit with a red line through).

Sound advice in my opinion!

Rick (Ratty) said...

When I began reading, I was wondering why I've never heard of a durian before. Your explanation was perfect. I wish I could find some here, so I could use them as bait for more squirrels.

roentare said...

I missed the taste of durian. It is an addicting tasting fruit

rainfield61 said...

WiseAcre: No no no no....the more you take the more you want. roentarre is right, it is highly additive.

Megaa_V: The squirrels that locked Ratty (http://everyday-adventurer.blogspot.com/) in the comment section have escaped to my neighbourhood. I am trying to hunt for it.

Sharkbytes: It is tasty to have durians mixed with rice. Very satisfied...

Mike: You should try at least once. No try no gain, but the best smelly durian is not from Thailand.

Ratty: I do not know whether your squirrels would like durians. They may get crazy and fall down from tree.

roentarre: Then I should roughly know where is your mother country. LOL.

betchai said...

I LOVE DURIAN!!! Yes, it is so addicting once my stomach bloated from over-eating since I can not stop. I miss it though, since it is tad expensive here. But we buy sometimes when it is on sale. It is everywhere in US, but you can only buy them at an Asian supermarket, or Asian store. It was more expensive when I was still in Connecticut since there were fewer Asians there, but here in San Diego is cheaper but I kind of consider anything over $4 a lb as expensive when I can buy oranges here for 5o cents a lb or sometimes 25 cents, when there are too many oranges already. Once a while we buy durian, just to satisfy our craving. Promise, the Asian supermarket does not stink, hahaha, but the durian does, haha! They say the Thailand variety has less smell? How true?

rainfield61 said...

betchai: Ha ha!! I found another follower. I have tried durians from Thailand, they are very less smelly than those from Malaysia. It should be due to that the species over here are fully ripen before fall from tree, wherease those from Thailand are left ripen during transportation.

Anonymous said...

I've never seen these either. Very detailed and interesting post. The photos are fantastic. Great job.

subrayoga said...

Durian is actually "love at 1st sight", I mean 1st smell, I mean 1st taste.........If you like it, you will love it for life, if you don't like it, life will be hell whenever durian gets near you.

Well described and well presented.....Rainfield61 should be an adamant lover of durian.

Try to use the "aroma" instead of "smelly"....

subrayoga said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rainfield61 said...

jodapoet: Good to see my writing has explained "king of the fruits" to you. Do enjoy eating durian, if there is a chance.

Subrayoga: You should have somehow smelled my durian....

Sweetipie said...

hmm!I can smell the durian.My family and I love durian.I think my kids would love to go to durian plantation.Sounds interesting!

Icy BC said...

My brother and his wife love durian. During the winter, they bought the frozen ones to eat, and they're still smelly after thawing..

rainfield61 said...

Icy BC: Very rare to know people other than Asian loves durian. But we must tightly close the Tupperware if keeping them in fridge, or else all the others will smell like durian.

DIGITAL WORLD PAGES ARCHIVE said...

Beautiful photos!