果王之王 ~ 榴蓮
By looking at the pictures below, can you guess the variety of these Durians?
Have I ever told you that I hate Durians, that is, until last Sunday?
I simply abhor their pungent smell. Unlike my husband and children, I have always avoided Durians like plague.
Then last Sunday, Vince’s mother planted nine Durians at our doorstep.
Vince was my son’s best friend and his family owns a Durian orchard up the hills near Bentong in Pahang.
Two weeks ago, Nicholas had followed them there to taste their Durians. They have also brought home a car load of Durians to be given to friends and relatives in Kuala Lumpur.
They just went there again and came back with another car load of these fruits.
I “forced” myself to eat them because I was curious about the look and smell of these Durians.
And you know what?
For the first time, I have come to taste the best Durian in the country and in my life too – the pulp was so thick yet soft, the taste was so sweet and creamy and the seeds were so flat and small. The spikes were blunt and the husks were thin. So easy to pry them!
All nine Durians turned out so perfectly well-formed and tasty.
Such glorious Durians! So different from all kampung Durians we normally buy from the roadside sellers.
The sweetness lingers long after we have thrown away the seeds and husks.
I am now a lover of Durians, but for this kind of Durians only. 🙂
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188 Hugh Low Street, Ipoh 
For some reason, I’ve never found the smell of durians offensive, But as you know doubt know, most Westerners abhor them. Anthony Burgess once said that consuming durians was “like eating blancmange in a toilet, 🙂
Hi Tom,
Anthony Burgess is more gracious with his description of durians. If you ask me, I would say they smell more like cat’s shit….hehehe! 🙂 But these durians are so different, they smell heavenly!
BTW, it is common to see some westerns squatting by the roadside eating durians..I guess they did it out of curiosity more than love for the fruit.
Welcome to the durian fans club. I simply love durians. Must confess the smell after durians consumption is not so nice.
It goes very nicely with mangosteens. Durians are known as the king of fruits and mangosteen the queen. After eating durians and taking mangosteen it is just heavenly.
To relate how crazy I am of durians, will tell you a story.
Many years back, my friend and I were suppose to attend a service in the evening in Sg. Siput.
On our way there we saw many durians selling by the way side. When we looked at one another, we seem to have telepathy of the same thought.
When we reached the church, both of our thoughts were nothing else but about durians and know not what the preacher man was preaching.
Before the service ended, we scooted out and speed to the durians sellers’ stores. We chose what we thought were the best and happily packed into our car. We got pricked, the thorns tore my car’s cushion. Anyway it was a small price to pay for the love of durians.
Now the climax of the story. When we reached home and eagerly open all the durians, it were all hard, watery, wormy or big seeds flesh. We only managed to eat one or two out of the ten we bought. It was also not cheap.
My friend and I repented, we should be worshiping God and listened intently to the preacher man, rather than thinking about durians. Maybe God will give us nice durians when we had done the latter.
From that time on, we enter not into temptation.
What a hilarious way to learn your lessons, Katherine. Yeah, I’m sure you won’t be able to forget it for the rest of your life as you will come across durians so often! 🙂
You are the first Malaysian I know hate the smell of durians. I love durians, but they are heaty. Have to drink a lot of water after consumption. Some people said that having mangoosteen together with durians with curb its “heatiness”. Not sure how true is this though.
Hahaha….yes, most Malaysians loves durian except me. I just can’t stand the smell, it’ll give me a headache, Andrew. To dispel the heat, try drinking tap water using the durian husk. I heard this works.
A scene in 1950s. The lorry came, in the late morning, parked by the kerbside and people began to unload the durians and they piled them up a yard (meter) high. They were symmetrical one and ones with the “mouth” curved backwards. You can use your nose to “sniff test” it. They were some that were slight opened and some had the mark of the squirrels (they tasted it first). We brought our little stools with us, while Mum bargained with he durian seller and she often select the curved ones and those partially eaten by the squirrels. It only cost 30 cts each with larger ones being 50-60 cts. With the wooden opener, a rounded piece of hard wood and one end shaped like a spear, a piece of cloth, the man hit the opening with the stick, opened the during with a jab and a twist, followed by a pair of hands splitting the fruit into two halves. We could consumed about 6 or 7 seeds each and there were always the mangosteen fruits seller nearby. You ate the mangosteen and drunk water using the durian husk. Cooling!
No drinking of alcohol (particularly spirits) after a stomach full of durian. It would appear that the alcohol stimulate fermentation of the durian in your stomach and can produce deadly toxins. Yes, I know some people had departed from this world doing just that. Durian is a creamy, rich in everything and is considered in holistic medicine to generate lots of heat and need cooling and water/magosteen seems to do the trick.
Of course, we did not have the genetic variety then and we used to get some durian that were not ripe (Cantonese Sang Fang She) and the best was the (Cantonese Wong Yook Gone Bao).
Taking durians in hotels, buses, and aeroplanes – LOL. Been there done it!
Driving a convertible and eating durians at the same time is thrilling. Throwing the seeds and the husk into the road is damn delinquent.. Oh, the good old days!
Yes, I remember my grandma once said drinking alcohol after eating durians can be fatal but she could not explain why, so thanks, IpohBornKid, for the theory! 🙂