Durian: The Thorny Fruit With Strong Smell

Durian is a seasonal tropical fruit that has strong smell. Its skin is thorny and you must be careful when holding it. Durian can be found in all tropical countries especially in South East Asia  (Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Phillipines, Brunei, Singapore and Indonesia). It is also called the king of the fruit.

In Terengganu, durian are grown in the orchards close to forest as durian thrives well in the area with slope and rolling toporaphy. However, some durian are grown in the rural areas where people live. Its season normally in May till August.

Durian can vary in size.

Durian fruit come in different sizes. Its flesh is normally yellow or royal yellow in colour. Durian is also emit gas. Its taste is sweet or bitter sweet depending on its clones. During its season, durian is sold in markets all over Terengganu. You may find, it is also sold along the main road to attract the customers.

You need to open the durian fruit with big knive in order to get its flesh. Be careful not to hurt your hands. Once you open it, you can see the flesh which is yellow in colour. You may eat fresh and do not eat its seed unless you boil it first. Do not eat too much, if you have hypertension and diabetes. Durian has high sugar content.

After eating the fruit (flesh), it is a common to pour the plain water into the skin (which has mould of the flesh) and drink from it. Some say it can cool you down and less adour when you emit gas from your mouth. You can use this water to wash your hands. Durian also can be eaten with cooked gluten rice with coconut milk (they call it Pulut Durian with Santan).

If you are from the temperate climate countries or stayed in the air-conditioned room for too long, you will hate the durian due to its smell. That is why many hotels disallowed durian in their premises. Your nose dislike it. But once you nose had acclamatised with the climate here, you will like the smell.

The life span of the fruit varies. If you find the fruit is already cracked, it may signal its life span will end soon. The cracked fruit should be cheaper.

Well, durian flesh can be deep freeze in order to keep it fresh over long time. When you want to eat, just defrost it. In Terengganu, it is a tradition where the Terengganu folks who had excess durian will convert it into another by-product i.e. lempok and tempoyak. Its flesh can be made into lempok, a kind of sweet jam. The flesh (from many fruits) is cooked with sugar until it turns into brown paste or jam. This lempok can be eaten with bread or eat just like that.

Its flesh also can be turned into tempoyak, a kind of seasoning that you use when you boil your fish. Tempoyak is made by mixing durian flesh with the right amount of salt (keep it inside the bottle). It can last many months. When you boil your fish, you can add asam (like tamarine), cucumber, daun kesom (kesom leaf),  small chilli, onions, garlic, then you can take a few spoons of this tempoyak to make it tasty. Small chilli, onion, garlic must be pounded first. Once your fish is cooked with  these ingredients, a Malaysian dish is already made. It is called  Ikan Masak Tempoyak (Fish with Tempoyak).

If you want to taste Terengganu durian, come May to August, you will certainly find durian everywhere. Happy travelling.