Preparing a Durian
In the UK, preparing a Durian is not a skill I ever learnt. Apples, oranges, strawberries, grapes perhaps a very 'exotic' and occasional peach were about as varied as my fruit intake ever was and the most difficult skill I ever learned as a tight fisted Yorkshireman was how to peel an orange in my pocket!
Here in Thailand however, the fruit is like everything else, complicated. It just doesn't seem to want to be eaten without a load of preparation and there is a definite possibility of losing necessary body appendages before flesh ever gets anywhere near your mouth!
Durian is of course, "The King of Fruit" and carries legendary status throughout South-East Asia and is generally in season between early May and the middle of June, the specimen we brought back up from Samui is one of the very last of the year. If you've never come across them, they are the smelliest, most disgusting things on the planet.
Smells like hell. Tastes like heaven
Is how the saying goes. They are also ridiculously expensive, with varying grades that range in price between $10 and $20USD per kilogram. The most expensive one ever sold was in a Thai charity auction and cost a whopping (£37,750; $48,000) source.
If you suspect me of over exaggerating, they are banned on many forms of public transport, aircraft and many hotels. This is a fruit that has its own signage!
The the edible part of the fruit sits in a bed, reminds me a lot of horse chestnuts (conkers) although obviously minus the smell!
After all is said and done, I think a lot of drama and fuss is just hype. I personally don't think they smell that bad and they taste OK, but nothing special but trust me, the Thais take them very seriously!
With this in mind, and after watching a great number of YouTube videos, I went for it, and overall, I don't think I did a bad job!
It's actually difficult to get a sense of scale and perhaps I ought to have placed a ruler at the side of it but it's about 16 inches from tip of the stalk to the bottom.
The knife I'm using is a 9" blade, and I sharpened it especially as the husk is very tough but once you get the first segment of shell off, you can tear the rest of it off.
You need a cloth to hold it as the spines are very sharp. If you look closely, you can see the natural segments in the shape of the fruit so starting in the middle and working to the top, then back to the bottom, you can follow the lines.
This yellow flesh is what we're after that's buried in the husk. Its about the consistency of Play-doh. The seed is also buried in the flesh and needs to be removed, of course. If the fruit is ripe, the flesh will simply lift out.
And here is the seed. It's about 2" in size and there were 3 in total in this fruit.
Around the other side and again, the flesh just slid out and can be placed into an air-tight storage box and into the fridge.
And this is what we get from one fruit! An awful lot of waste and messing about but...
...the wife and her student Neuy were very happy.
Happy wife, happy life!
For the best experience view this post on Liketu
It's been over 2 decades since I had one...
I should take some initiative.
Can you not buy them in the US? In the UK in Tesco, I saw them a couple of times for sale but ridiculously expensive. If you want some seeds, let me know. I'll post them to you :-)
Probably. I haven't paid enough attention at the Asian markets.
Haha idk if Utah is the place to try to grow them.
Still havent tried one.. is this your opinion?
That's the general opinion I always hear. I think its all a fuss over nothing really. It tastes OK but I wouldn't go overboard. Its tastes like it looks. It's like an almond flavoured custard. They sell it at the side of the road in season, ready prepared but obviously at a premium! I'll stick with my apples but if you do want to try, they actually used to sell them in the big Tescos but personally, I wouldn't add it too far up the bucket list if i were you!
I saw them by the roadside when in Bangkok, lots of them. Didn't think to give them a go at the time. I was more interested in finding a Bacon and Eggs cheap breakfast place.. but only found Noodle soup ones 😔
I keep saying that Bangkok NEEDS a butty shop but there's nothing cheap when it comes to genuine ex pat food. I don't often do it, but I saw one of the 'foreign food suppliers' selling Iceland Chocolate Eclairs. Five quid a box of 4.....I just crumpled....the enjoyment lasted merely seconds. The guilt will last a week lol
Smells nice and tastes good. Still don't know why a lot would turn this tasty fruit down :>
I also don't find the smell as offensive as many, but as a terrible generalisation, I think Thais are over sensitive to aromas. I know they don't like standing too close to me on the train ;-)
Hope you've had a lovely weekend fella :-)
I'd eat the entire fruit if no one was looking just for the sake of curiosity how my stomach can tolerate. My favorite is the fruit called "marang" I don't know if it's called the same fruit there though.
My weekends feels like weekdays, work never stops but it's a little less stressful because other offices close up thus less referrals. Hope yours was way better :>
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I have heard many people go on about the smell, so that was the thing I was going to ask you, but you answered, so sounds like it is hype, unless the really smelly ones are the really expensive ones.
That's a good point! Next season I will obsessively investigate this lol
aha now I am curious to hear your findings!
The smell is really strong that I can smell when a neighbor that’s three houses away from me brought a durian. ;p We also have signages here and yeah it’s so annoying if you go to a public transport and someone’s carrying a durian hahah. Yeah I also noticed the price of durian there is expensive. Here in my city tho it’s cheap, I mean we are durian capital of the Philippines after all 😂.
Funny for us that we need to use a cloth or whatever to protect our hands, while some just catch durian bare-handed.
Of course! Davao is the Durian capital of the Philippines! I was down there once during the season and like here, the vendors were lining the road as we hit the city limits on the bus. Here I think, a lot of it is snob value as people like to show off how much things cost! Durian from certain provinces cost a lot more than from other provinces but like wine etc, I bet 99% of the people couldn't tell the difference in a blind taste test ;-)
On a similar vein, the wife's grandmother who is in her late 80s never wears anything on her feet and wanders around outside on any surface which if it were me would have feet that were cut to ribbons! Old people just have crocodile skin I think.
The last time I ate this fruit was 2019. It's quite expensive here in our country and also the availability is quite limited and so I really don't usually saw this in our are. The smell is really bad but yeah, this is super delicious, no doubt.
My God, I remember during my high school days when my classmates brought one sack of durian because they have a farm. And true, the smell was so gross and like my organs in my stomach flips. Though it smells bad they said it's so delicious but I never dared to eat. I just can't because of the smell which made me always feel dizzy.
My classmate even prank me. Putting a durian in my bag. In our hometown before, there were lots of free durian especially when I was in high school. I just don't know now if it's still free because nowadays, it's a known fruit and the price is high already.
I love your last quote " Happy wife, happy life" hihi
Hahahaha🤣...no doubt exotic fruits give us more work but they are a delight!!!
This one looks like a Guanábana, one of my favorite tropical fruits , but Guanábana smells and tastes delicious, its rind is soft , you can open it with your hands easily when it is ripe, it is a fruit melts in your mouth !!!!🤤
Soursop juices are the best. It is an antioxidant fruit, rich in calcium, phosphorus and iron with high fiber content and very moisturizing. I hope someday you will have the pleasure of enjoying soursop!😍