Durian
King of Fruits
This is Manna King, Durian 榴连, The King of all Fruits. If you have not come across durian before, you might think it is smelly. You cannot stand the awful smell — just like little kids who see and smell durians the first time. However, after a few tries, these children, including myself(when I was young), began to love them. Durian lovers will not find them smelly once they know how to appreciate it. People who have not tasted durian before will not understand how nice durian can be. I can tell you that the durian has a nice aroma, and its texture ranging from sticky, creamy, silky, dry to ‘watery’ or succulents as some people said it. It is hard to describe, but people who had eaten good durian before will be addicted to it.
Good Durian
What is good durian? It takes years for me to appreciate real good durian. When young, I love sweet durian. I find durian smelly when I had not tasted them before. I have no idea why people like this strange thorny fruits which hurt people, are so popular and expensive. My father used to buy bags of it home. That could be our meals! I love sweet durians and I would give bitter ones to my parents. My parents would say,”You don’t know how to eat durian!” It puzzled me. “Aren’t I eating durian?” I asked myself. However, gradually as years passed and I had eaten various types of durians, I had learned what is tasty durian and what is durian that is ‘inferior’.
Choosing Durian: The first thing my father did was to hold the durian holding on to the stalk. Next he will bring the durian near the nose, smell it; and then use his hand to ‘brush’ against the spikes (thorns) of the durian. Immediately after that, he would shake the durian, bringing it near his ears, to listen to the ’sound’ of the durian when shaking. Stroking the durian spiky husk is to listen to the sound too. Coupled this together with the sound of shaking and the appearance of the durian and its stalk, all contribute to the selection of a good durian.
Durian Appearance - colour, holes, smell
Some durians appeared very fresh green in colour, while some appear brownish-green. Some durians are small and rounded, while some are big, oval, and some with weird shapes. Some durians have dented holes, some small holes, some with the ‘drilling’ from worms which make the durians seem ‘rusty’ with brown ‘dusts’ or ‘dirts’. To choose a good durian, the aroma must be nice, spoiled durian or stale durian does not smell nice. It takes experience to pick a good durian.
Learn From Experience
However, nowadays, many durians are packed in styrofoam boxes, covered with a layer of transparent plastics. We can only see the flesh and not the external part of the durian. Similarly, experience will tell the types of durian you get from the appearance of it.
Durian Varieties
There are Malaysia durians and Thailand durians. There are normal durians which drops down from trees and they are imported to Singapore for sale. There are expensive and superior quality durian, the XO durian and D24, which are King of the kings of Durians. They are ‘Zu Ji’ (In Teochew, which means seedless), with thick fleshy yellowish flesh. Even though they are called “Zu Ji” (seedless), we still eat their seeds, which are so much smaller and ‘miniatured’ than the normal durians. The seeds can be very flattened, to rounded.
Durian Culture
The durians are found only in tropical countries. The Taiwan people like to eat the ‘drier and more firm’ durian, while the Thailand people like to eat the not so ripe durian which are more greenish and hard ones. I learned this during one of the tour trip to Taiwan. The tour guide told us their Taiwan People Culture, and compared themselves with Thailand and Singapore. In Singapore, we love to eat the riper durian, the more ‘wet’ and ’soft but firm’, yellowish, bitter-sweet durian. The not so ripe durian is often hard or semi-hard, with ‘leafy’ taste and smell. There is another type of durian which are drier, not so succulent or watery, and they taste like eating sweet pototatoes.
King of Kings
Good durian leaves a nice aftertaste. The moment you put the durian in your mouth, you should taste sweet at first. But when you start to eat it, the initial taut and firm skin on the flesh ‘break’, releasing all the ‘watery and creamy’ juice(everything in the durian) into your mouth. Delicious durian emits a aroma like that of alcohol. That is why good durian is called XO durian. It is as bitter as alcohol and it is as aromatic as the alcohol. Just like cigarette smoking, you can mesmerise yourself with the wonderful and mystical special flavour of these durian in your mouth. It is the initial put-in that you experience. After mixing in the saliva for sometime, it would not have such effect anymore. So it is like wine-drinking and tea-drinking. It is the smell and the optimum taste of it.
‘Bao Jia’ Durian = guaranteed can eat Durian
Some durians do not have such aromatic alcoholic effect when put in the mouth. They tasted blend, some merely sweet, some very sweet and still some ‘rotten bacteria’ smell and ‘leafy’ taste. I always reject this when I buy from the durian sellers. They are not happy but I always stress to them what I want first. Since it is ‘bao jia’ I got the right to reject what is no good. If you are not happy, then don’t give me ‘lousy’ durian’. So I always buy from trustworthy durian sellers. Young ones are impatient, don’t know how to choose and they lose their temper entertaining fussy people like me. They do not like me, I do not like them.
Fresh Durian
In Singapore, it is lucky that there are ‘Bao Jia’ Durian. The seller makes a slit and it is easier for us to open up the durian later at home. However, once opened, they cannot be left too long at room temperature, otherwise they will not be fresh and nice. If you buy the whole durian, without opening, it can last for 2-3 days at most. Otherwise they would not taste nice too.
Opening Durian
It is good that the seller help us to make a slit on the durian. This really makes opening the durian easier at home. However, some durians are very hard to open. Experience also indicates that hard to open durian are nice to eat durian. So it is worth the while. Good things are hard to reach.
Hard To Describe
My father used to use a cloth and a knife to open the durian. On the left hand, cloth, and the right hand holding the knife. Open the durian from the base (the ‘backside’ of the durian, directly opposite the stalk, the head). The place where the durian will crack when it drops on the ground. First hold the durian firmly, next, use the knife to secure a ‘place’ at the durian base. There are natural ‘lines’ on the durian if you see it. Experience will tell you and experience will naturally guide you on how to open the durian. It is hard to describe. My English is no good.
Durian Tree
The durian tree is called the Tree of Abundant Life by DurianPalace. This is because it is a powerful, tall and majestic tree. The durian tree is a very special tree. One look at it, you will know it is a durian tree, if you know how to see. The durian tree can grow as tall as 50m, with VERY straight stem or trunk. The leaves are not greenish, but something like golden brownish-green, very special one. The durian flower is unique as well. The durian tree can grow for as long as 80 -150 years. They have such a long life-span and they are known to be nutritious, containing many nutrients. The older the tree, the best durian they produced.
Durian Uses
The durian tree is a very primitive and ancient fruit. That explains how animals do not need to see doctor. They have natural GOOD food, herbs and plants in the forest to maintain their health and cure themselves. That explains also why so many animals and even humans love to eat durians. They are eaten as food during meal times or as desserts. When put in the fridge, it is a natural ice-cream. When eat with rice, it is a perfect meal. When it alone, it is also fine. It can also be made into sweets and cakes. It is nature wonder Food, Manna King.
Durian Kills
As with any other thing, there are good and bad of a thing. Durian is good for us, but whoever are greedy, whoever lack of knowledge would get killed by durian. Durian are nice, and there is a need for durian. To cater for durian supply, people wait in durian farms, people fight in durian farms or under a durian tree, they want to earn money to sell durians. If not for earning, they want to eat the durians. There are news where people got killed when durians dropped on the head of people tries to pick durians and waiting for durian to fall in forest or farms and plantations. People got injured when they got pricked by durian spikes. I had my legs with scratches when I had to carry heavy weights of durian bags. I had my finger pricked by sharp durian spikes when I tried to open durians. Durians are good, nice and tasty, but durians can be deadly.
Durian Facts You Must Know
Durian Poison
I learned from my father that people died when eating durian with wine or beer. Durian when consume with alcoholic drinks produces some gas, as mentioned by Durian Palace. If you have eaten durian, you will find that your burps stink. It smells and if you keep durian in the fridge, you will find that the fridge will have the odour of gas, the gas that we used for cooking.
以毒攻毒(Yi Du Gong Du) Fighting Poison with Poison
My mother used to be very sick, flu, sore throat, cough etc, but she cannot resist the temptation of durian. Durian is very nutritious and it has medicinal effect. She used to say that certain things can be cured with the ‘poison’ itself. Just like treating heatiness with heatiness. And it was useful at times. It works.
Durian Odour
After eating durians, our hands and our mouth (whichever part of your body touches durian), will have durian smell. Durian Palace suggests washing the hands with durian seeds. I had never tried this yet.
Durian Heaty
People who eat lots of durian at one go or continuously for a few days will get sick. This is because durian is ‘heaty’. My father always advised us to drink salt water after eating durian to prevent heatiness. I really helps. You got to drink put water in one of the lobules of the durian ’shell’(the thick thorny or spiky skin), then add a pinch of salt to it. After the salt is dissolved, with your finger stirring the water, drink the salt water from the durian shell.
Durian Links
Durian
Durian Palace
NTU - Durian Notes
Eating Durian
Botany of Durian
