My favourite fruit of all time is hands down the Durian – or as it is commonly known in South East Asia, ‘The King of Fruits’. The word Duri comes from the Malay word which means thorn, and the -an is the suffix for the Malay word Durian. For those who are curious, Durian is scientifically known as durio zibenthis. Yes, I looked this up on Google out of sheer curiosity on my part! If it were up to me, I would re-classify Durians and place them in the gourmet dessert category instead.

My deep and thorny love affair with Durians started when I was about 5 years old. That’s approximately a 20-year love affair that is still going strong. I was introduced to the Durian fruit by my family who have roots in the jungles and villages of Sabah, Borneo. As a young child, my father used to sleep in a small hut near my grandmother’s Durian trees with his cousins overnight to wait for the ripe Durians to fall to the ground. A dull thud on the jungle floor followed by the rustling of foliage usually indicates this.

While growing up, I never got a chance to sleep under the Durian trees but I sure received generous helpings of the fruit whenever we visited granny in her village. My grandmother has countless Durian trees around her yard which always produces delicious Durians during the fruit season between July and November. However, I have seen Durians sold outside this season in different parts of Malaysia and Thailand.

A tropical fruit, the Durian is native to Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. In recent years, Thailand has become one of the biggest exporters of Durians in South East Asia even though the fruit is not native to their country. There are many variants of Durian – different sizes, flesh, colour, taste and texture. The three most common types of Durians are the yellow, white and orange-fleshed ones. I have tried a red-fleshed one in the past but this variant seems to be quite rare.

The Durian has a dense, solid and thorny outer-shell that splits open in sections (when you try hard enough with a cleaver or sharp tool). My theory is that the Durian protects itself with this intimidating ‘facade’ from preying animals and humans because its flesh tastes too good to be true and is worth the extra protection!

Unfortunately for the poor Durian, humans still managed to outsmart it. Years ago, I came across a fallen Durian in my granny’s yard with a dead squirrel wedged halfway into the fruit. The poor creature probably died trying to reach the tasty morsels of fruit within the thorns ala Get Rich or Die Tryin’!

So what is the big fuss about the Durian? There are two sides to this: You either love it with a passion, or hate it with a vengeance. People who love Durians will go out of their way to get their hands on them. One example for me was driving out to the local fruit markets on a muddy gravel road in a tropical storm- thunder, lighting and all – to satisfy my cravings for Durian.

As for people who don’t, they find the smell sickly sweet and unbearable, and the taste utterly revolting,  “like rotting onions”- as I recall someone telling me years ago. Needless to say, I was more than slightly offended. But hey, to each of their own! Durians are actually banned in a few hotels and public transport in Malaysia and Singapore due to the strong odour from the fruit! How rude!

I was having a discussion with a friend the other day on why Durians have such a wide reputation for being a smelly and disgusting fruit. We concluded that Durians probably get alot of bad press from all the widespread negativity and the idea that this fruit is gross becomes ingrained in people’s psyche and therefore puts them off enjoying it fully.

Perhaps the new tactic is to market this fruit in a more positive light so that people may change their minds about it. I grew up without the bad press and actually appreciated the fruit for what it was, just by eating and enjoying it the way nature intended.

Out of the three most common types of Durian (white, yellow and orange), I like the yellow variety the most. My personal description of the flavour will have to be ‘A rich, creamy and concentrated bitter-sweet Vanilla custard’. The flesh of the Durian is very sweet and intense, and the creamy texture of the fruit simply melts in your mouth.

There are usually about 4 to 5 pods in a single Durian and each pod may contain up to 6 pieces of fruit that are attached together, and the seeds are encased within the flesh of the fruit. Durians are dense and  depending on size, a whole Durian can weigh between 0.5kg up to even 8kg! Here is an example of a 5.2kg Durian my folks’ bought at their local Durian stall:

Durians are usually sold out of minivans and trucks on makeshift roadside stalls, night markets and local produce markets. The only times I have ever seen Durians sold indoors in a supermarket or fruit shop is when the fruit pieces have been packaged or they are sold wholly frozen (not recommended!). The price of Durians vary – smaller fruits can cost from around RM4 per kilo and the bigger, higher grade Durians can cost up to RM50 a kilo from my experience at a Durian stall on Jalan Alor in Kuala Lumpur.

Most Durian eaters will notice that after they eat the fruit with their fingers, the smell of the fruit lingers on for days on end! There are two tricks to this: Wash your hands under a running tap while rubbing your fingers with a stainless steel object such as a spoon. Or, my all-time favourite, using a Durian husk, rub your fingers in the white part of the husk while rinsing under running water. This method works like magic and removes the smell completely!

One thing I have found from eating too much Durian in one sitting is that my body temperature goes up and I feel quite feverish. This usually happens after going through about 5 whole Durians! The trick is to have some cold water or Coconut juice handy to counteract this heaty problem.

Besides eaten fresh, Durians are made into various types of delectable sweets such as ice cream, candies, sweet porridge and cakes. I was at a Secret Recipe Cafe in Kota Kinabalu a while back and I saw that they had a Durian Cheesecake on offer. How could I possibly pass up the opportunity to try this?

I ordered a slice and to be honest I couldn’t taste the cheese but it tasted as though the entire cake was made from fresh Durian concentrate together with a crushed biscotti crust! It was so sensational, I bought an entire cake to bring to a family dinner that same week! The whole cake cost around RM40, which was pretty reasonable for what it was.

As far as fruits go, Durians will have to be on the top of my favourites list. If you are ever around in Malaysia during the fruiting season, be sure to head down to the local food markets to sample the king of fruits for yourself and prepare to be amazed…