Getting there is half the fun

mmmm Durians!

Being the ignorant foreigners that we are Samson and I mistakenly bought a durian the other day without knowing it! Actually neither of us had ever heard of them before, but have seen the stands all over the city. So the other day we were walking through the streets melting in the sun and had a craving for some nice tropical fruit. The next food stand we happened to pass was a durian stand, and just our luck they were selling delicious looking fruit all nicely packaged.


With our choice find we hopped on the bus back home to enjoy our treat. Upon arriving back at the dorm we quickly realized that neither of us even had the slightest clue about eating one of these. So we thought it best to put the thing aside and ask someone what on earth we are supposed to do with it. Well the thing ended up sitting on my desk for a day before it started to emit the most potent smell. Not knowing what to do I did the next logical thing, I hung it out my window in the courtyard hoping that would solve the problem. And it did, but only for another 2 days because I forgot the thing was there and came home one day to a room that smelt like a sewer. No doubt I must have pissed off a few neighbours! Now I didn't want to waste my money entirely so I decided to at least try the thing before I threw to the trash. Well not to let you down but it did actually taste somewhat good, if you can get past the diaper smell first!

here's what good old Lonely Planet has to say about durians: (if only we read this before!)

"Large and oval, the durian is the region's most infamous fruit, renowned for its phenomenal smell, a stink so powerful that first-timers are often forces to hold their noses while they taste. In fact, durians emanate a stench so redolent of open sewers that you'll see signs in hotels all over Singapore warning that durians are expressly forbidden entry. It's definitely an acquired taste, like overly ripe cheese."

This is what they look like unbutchered:


So apparently you are supposed to eat the fruit soon after harvesting and definitely don't leave the opened fruit hanging in the sun in a courtyard or else it will go bad! In case you haven't had enough of durians check out this link to the "king of fruits" (complete with durian poetry!?)

Posted by Evan at 11:09 PM