Friday, November 19, 2010

DURIAN - The KING of Fruits





Heavenly - the thick, creamy flesh that everyone's waiting for


It took the husband of blogger Pat, who blogs at The English Cottage to figure out what the Green Berry was. Congratulations!

Who would ever imagine that these tiny berries will develop into huge thorny fruits weighing as heavy as 4kg each!
You can witness the transformation right here, as I walk you through the stages of this amazing, most popular fruit in Asia.

It is the start of the durian season on The Farm. Families and friends will be eagerly looking forward to the 'feast' when the fruits finally ripen. But they will have to wait for the fruit to drop, and then struggle and  manoeuvre their fingers through the sharp thorns to open it, before they can finally savour the divine flesh. It's worth the wait and the struggle, they'll assure you.

Here are the trees from where the photos of those berries were taken:







The kitchen window looks out to the backyard where
a durian tree grows, the afternoon sun shining through.

23 comments:

nouvelles couleurs - vienna atelier said...

:-) very intresting for me

Nadia said...

The first picture is making me drooooool! Should head to SS2! :P

Grandpa said...

Hi Laura, you must try this fruit, very tasty!

Nadia, the photo is that of "Mausang King" a.k.a Raja Kunyit variety originated from Gua Musang in Kelantan

Faith said...

Rats! You threw us off with the 'berry' description.

I've heard about Durian. That it really stinks badly. Some say like rotting meat or dirty socks.

Does only the husk around the pulp smell that way, or does the pulp smell as well?

Nice job cutting it open. The lady who I saw cut one open before just whacked through the middle and did some scooping. This shows the shape of the fruit itself.

Really interesting. Thanks!

~Faith

Grandpa said...

Hi Faith, I'm sorry but this is how this fruit started - as little berries. Later it will shed this one to produce second stage tiny berries but with thorns on them. I'll show you all these as they develop on The Farm, not from Google or the internet.

The smell is strong and can turn off first-timers, but I know of many westerners who had acquired both the smell and the taste and had begun to enjoy this exotic fruit.

Kelle at The Never Done Farm said...

Say, Thank you for sharing the info on you native fruits, very interesting! What a lovely view from your kitchen too!

BTW we're now geting snow, 4-5 inches acculated already and it's still snowing! Amazing how different parts of our world can be so totally opposite, isn't it?

klahanie said...

Greetings Grandpa,
What an interesting, fascinating and informative blog, you do.
I'm not familiar with, 'Durian, The King of fruits'. You've aroused my curiosity and I shall go and check if it's available, here in England.
Have a peaceful and positive weekend.
With respect and kindness, your way, Gary.

NancyDe said...

I have only ever seen a tree at the Botanical Gardens in Honolulu - I think some people grow them in Kona. Even here, it isn't a common fruit. Very interesting! I wonder if they would grow at my elevation (2500 ft)?

Lee said...

Hi Grandpa, here we get frozen durians, either whole fruit or in packets, and seedless....from Thailand.
And I love eating them 1/4 frozen, like eating ice cream. And these Thai ones are very good too....very thick flesh and very tiny seeds or no seeds.

Only problem have to wrap up after eating with several plastic bags before going into the garbage tong, or else the Mat Sallehs will phone the Fire authorities say something died in the garbage tongs, ha ha.

Holy Smoke! I love those berries, now I remember, seen them couple of times long ago, but da lupa nama.
Have a pleasant weekend, Grandpa, Lee.

Anonymous said...

Ohhhhhh.. now I know. The durian "Musang King" is named after Gua Musang. *ish ish*

Thanks for telling me this.

And to think that all these years, I've been LED to believe (thanks to my naughty friends) that it's called Musang King coz it grew from seeds crapped out by those musang cats.

Adina West said...

I saw your earlier post but had no idea about the berries so couldn't hazard a guess.

LOVE durian though, and I really don't mind the smell either. I think it gets bad press.

Will look forward to seeing you post pictures as the babies grow...

Bimbimbie said...

Interesting to see how this fruit starts off - do you loose any branches with the weight of the mature fruit?

Pat said...

Hahahah! My husband was so happy to be right - as usual ;) But he is a kampong boy, lah - Kulim mari - so he should know, I guess!

But I'd never seen the 'berries', so thanks for the pix, and the info :)

small farm girl said...

I've never heard of those fruit. I'll have to look them up.

Ohiofarmgirl said...

You totally got me - would have never guessed. But I should have known - I think you mentioned these before. Hope you are having a great weekend!
:-)

Grandpa said...

Hi everyone,thanks for your comments - my apologies for the late response as I've been away:

Kelle, thanks! The kitchen, apart from the verandah, is my favorite place. We have many flooded areas here at the moment, but the hot weather should be here soon;

Gary, welcome to The Farm! I suspect supermarkets sell frozen ones, otherwise China town, may be? Thanks for dropping by and have a productive week;

NancyDe, worth a try, as long as there's no freezing tempratures. Bear in mind though durian needs a distinct and prolonged dry period to flower;

Lee, frozen durian is big business for Malaysian and Thai growers, which indicate the fruit's increasing popularity amongst westerners (esp where there are Asians like yourself!);

Andrea, various varieties 'originate' from different states e.g D144 or green durian is from Beserah, Pahang. So go ahead, eat your heart out!

Adina, great to hear you love durians! To newcomers, if they can overcome the initial shock from the aroma, there's a good chance that they'll go on to enjoy the fruit. Yes, I'll be showing pics every two weeks...

Bimbimbie, they grow durians in Queensland, as you know, and frozen ones are common in supermarkets in other parts of Australia. It's a good question: first there will be natural 'thinning' leaving ten to twenty fruits per branch. Growers use bamboo poles to support heavy bearing branches. Some smaller branches do break from the weight, hence the need to do pruning to develop and maintain strong branches;

Pat, you are welcome! The North is durian country, as you know;

Small farm girl, check back here - I may write a bit more about it since there's quite an interest. And try some!

Ohiofarmgirl, yes, I wanted some of your pears, in exchange for durians!

Kittie Howard said...

Great info, Grandpa. I've seen durian trees but never tasted the fruit. Looking forward to its maturation.

Thanks for the tag...which was done today. I'm a bit late. One of those patches where, everywhere you turn, something happens. Oy! Oy!

(I'm clueless as to why the link to your site came out lighter than the others!)

Grandpa said...

Hi Kittie, great to see you again! I'm glad you are settled down now, and are able to celebrate thanksgiving. If you come across durian would you try some? But you may need to try it a few times (be brave!) before you develop a craving for it! Yes, we've all been waiting for your story, but it's worth the wait - I learnt the history, and enjoyed your inter-state travel (love the scenes and those welcome centers!)

the wanderer [bernard] said...

hi grandpa. i'm so happy to visit you on the farm. i feel very comfortable here.

Grandpa said...

the wanderer, thanks for dropping by! you are very welcome to stay a while and relax here, where nothing is too trivial...

Jennifer said...

Very interesting! I really enjoyed this post and learning more about this unique fruit!

Samantha VĂ©rant said...

I'm curious, Grandpa. How bad is the smell of durian?

Grandpa said...

Jennifer, sorry I missed you earlier. Thanks. Btw I have an Award for you in my latest post!

Samantha Verant, the smell is pretty strong and may turn off first timers. But you need to bear with it for a while in order to try the fruit