 The sensational "king of
the fruits"
“You should wash your
hands using the water poured from a durian skin. It will remove the smell
from your fingers," urged Mr. Teh, my neighbour who accompanied me on a durian
feast at Balik Pulau. We had a satisfying breakfast like no other amidst
the natural surrounding of a durian orchard.
 Mr Nah Gin Guan, the
tenant’s son of the durian orchard, was skilful in opening the durians.
With a sharp cleaver, every single fruit was pried open at the tail end where
the indicative slicing lines met.
Come durian season, for
as far as I can remember, my father however, deploying a stick-stump
approximately eight inches long with a slightly sharp end to do the same
job.
I on the other hand, would
now prefer the much safer and easier method – to get the durian seller
to open part of the fruit for me. This way, I am certain of the quality I
am paying for. In the past there were times when the inner skin merged and
did not give way at the trust of the knife – the tussle sometime drew
blood.
The durian tree (Bombaceae
Durio zibethius L.Murr) is native to moist equatorial forests in Southeast
Asia. It can grow to 100 feet tall and produces heavy, thick-skinned,
brownish-green, soccer-ball size fruits covered with sharp thorns.
“Durian” come
from the word “duri” translates from Bahasa Malaysia as thorn.
Therefore durian, by name is the thorny fruit. Which indeed, it is.
Each individual fruit is
divided into five compartments, each containing a brown seed covered by a
sac of thick, creamy pulp with an aroma that is legendary.
A popular believe is that
the older the tree, the better the fruit. Durian from an older tree will
bear fruits having a wrinkled texture with smooth, thick, creamy flesh that
taste sweeter and have a stronger fragrance and flavour.
 Usually, seed trees will
start bearing fruit after about five to six years. Sometimes, four to five-year
old trees can start to flower. The mature durian tree needs at least three
to four weeks of dry weather to produce flowers to fill its branches. One
month late, the flower will be in full bloom. Three months after that, the
durian fruit will start to ripen and drop.
Nets are tied over some expanse of
the ground to protect good quality
durians from damage.
The “champion”
durians which we savoured that morning were from trees that were more than
40 years old amounting to about 65 per cent to the trees at the orchard.
According to Mr Nah, initial
yield may be 10 to 40 fruits for the first year of “flowering”
to about 100 fruits for the sixth year. Yield of up to 200 fruits is common
after the 10th year of fruiting. Each durian season, this 30 acres orchard
(which combines two farms) in Balik Pulau can produce as many at 15,000
durians.
Durian generally bear one
crop a year but may “flower” twice a year if influenced by the
right conditions. Normally, durian fruits are allowed to drop when they are
ripe.
However, the fruits may
also be harvested from the tree, as is a common practise in Thailand. By
harvesting the shelf life could be extended from nine to 11 days compared
to three or four days when allowed to drop from the tree.
 Durians are like grapes
and wine, or like cheese. They are a food for gourmets, for connoisseurs.
For genuine durian lovers, differentiating taste in accordance to variety
can be a true science.
Grading the durians by quality
and size before it is transported to
the Balik Pulau market for sale.
To judge the quality of
the durian, there are three important criteria to remember. The first is
the appearance of the durian. The colour must be even ranging from pale white
to golden yellow, and to orange. Second is the aroma. It must have a strong
or a light smell. Thirdly, the texture – it should be creamy wet or
creamy dry, sweet or bitter sweet. The flesh must be smooth and fully cover
the whole seed.
Different people crave
different varieties. The sweeter type of durians are yellowish and creamy
in texture. This include high-sounding names like Hor Loh, Lipan, Green Skin,
D2, D15, D95 and Kun Poh. The optional bitter sweet type are usually pale
in colour reminding me of a blue-and-black pinch would that is easing off.
According to Mr Nah, the orange coloured variety (e.g. "ang heh" literally
means red prawn) are usually not as sweet as the yellowish type. His orchard
has as many as 20 popular varieties of "branded" durians and more that 50
other types waiting to be gived a name.
Our buffet spread that
morning included some of the above. My preference were the yellowish ones
called D604 and D14. They had thick flesh with rich sweet butter-like texture.
Eating them even as they fell off the trees was the best guarantee of their
freshness. It was indeed the best way to get one’s fill.
 The fruits we ate that
morning were of average size. They were not as big as that of the Thai variety
which I usually avoid. The Thai varieties are packed with bulging fruits
and the taste is less creamy, more fibre and rather bland. More is not better
here for when it come to durians, quality is king.
I can also remember after
a hefty durian feast, my mother would insist that my brothers, sisters, and
I fill the empty shell with water, add a pinch of salt and drink it. She
would explain that by doing so, the shell which contains "anti-heat" properties
that would help cool down body heat. It is believed that durian makes the
body feel warm.
We were also warned not
to consume alcohol together with durian or having it before or after eating
durian. This is because, durian is rich in protein and when mixed with alcohol,
becomes yeast. One might feel uncomfortable if one were to consume both durian
and alcohol together. Of course, my mother said that if we did so, we would
just die. She would add on giving examples of dead uncles.
In the Malay Archipelago,
about 150 years ago, famed Victorian naturalist and evolutionary theorist
Alfred Russle Wallace wrote, "To eat durian is a new sensation worth a voyage
to the East to experience." He spent eight years exploring Malaysia and Indonesia
in the days before the steamboat. He must have discovered that this fruit
with the powerful smell had even a more awesome taste.
That morning, we walked
away from our buffet breakfast with a smile on our faces, feeling very satisfied
and being able to share Wallace’s experience.
We each paid Mr Nah RM15
and vowed to return next week to relish the sensation again before this durian
season draws to an end.
If you are not, and have
not sampled durians before, I highly recommend that you do. You will either
love it or hate it. No two ways about it. Whatever the consensus, one must
admit there is nothing quite like the durian – "king of the
fruit".
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