
The Durian King - danso
https://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-col1-malaysia-durians-china-20190704-htmlstory.html
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vdas
I live in Malaysia. We are right in the middle of durian season (May to
August).

Musang King costs Ringgit Malaysia(RM)48 per kg. That is around USD12/kg or
(USD5.45/pound). So a single Musang King durian will cost around RM60 per
fruit (USD14.50/fruit). I usually buy slightly lesser quality durian at
RM38/kg. The seller will help to choose a fruit that is ripe and creamy but
not overripe. You can take home the partially opened fruit or just transfer it
to a styrofoam container that you put in the fridge when you get home.

Musang King has smaller seeds and is creamier than what I usually buy. But the
less expensive fruit is good enough for me since I buy durian pretty often. If
you had a durian orchard why would you grow fruit that does not taste good? If
I were a durian farmer I certainly would not. The difference in quality
between Musang King and the others is not that noticeable.

My friends from India who visit me just hate the smell because it (sorry to be
so graphic!) smells like fruity poo and refuse to taste it or taste it with a
cringing expression. I'm sure that other people have the same reaction. But if
you do visit Malaysia (or another durian country such as Singapore or Thailand
-- both remarkable countries for food as well), you should partake. It is the
closest you will come to eating palkova from a tree.

~~~
gshakir
I might visit KL soon, which place would you recommend to try out eating
Durian? And which place to get it to bring it back home? I am hoping they take
care of packing etc.

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harrygeez
You'll want to head out to the suburbs. There's an area called SS2 that is
where most of the locals go to have their durians.

I'd recommend against taking it out because even for locals many of us can't
bear the smell, and it's considered impolite.

On a side note, are you coming here for NG MY conference?

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gshakir
Thank you. I had to look up “NG MY” conference, so, no not coming for Angular
conference.

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jasonlingx
My grandparents had a durian plantation in Sibu, a small town in East
Malaysia. During the season we would camp out there for days, waiting for the
sound of a fruit dropping and then running out to retrieve it. We had to sell
it after my grandfather passed.

Interestingly, they say the best durians (from Malaysia) can hardly be found
in Malaysia as they are all brought to Singapore where they fetch a much
higher price.

I wrote a love song to durians which I released a few weeks back:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylX-
HLGgI8E&list=PLB5PnPqPHu...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylX-
HLGgI8E&list=PLB5PnPqPHuGXScyA0UDMIoxGscESWZhNY)

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rayiner
I can’t believe nobody commented on the theft:

> The fruit came from a nearby orchard. Tan asked whether he could have a
> branch to graft onto one of his trees, but the woman shooed away the idea.
> So that evening he returned with a villager armed with a rifle. At Tan’s
> instructions, and for pay, the man pruned a footlong branch with a well-
> placed shot.

~~~
danso
The ending to the story, describing the younger Tans' paranoia of rivals
poisoning and stealing his durian trees, suggests that maybe sometime in the
future, we might get an epic story akin to "The Orchid Thief", but about
durian thievery and conflict:

> _On the cusp of the peak durian harvest, which starts each June, he often
> sleeps in a hammock on the family plantations, guarding ripening fruits from
> thieves. Durian farming is a cutthroat business. Rivals are suspected of
> poisoning some of his experimental durian trees. His biggest fear, however,
> is that someone steals a branch from one of his new hybrid trees, just like
> his father did so many years earlier._

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Taniwha
I once worked somewhere where a coworker declared "if the bug is in my code
I'll eat a durian"

We made him do it outside

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dmix
> China’s massive unmet demand for durian is the prime reason the Hong Kong
> consulting firm Plantations International predicts that the global market
> for raw durian will reach $25 billion by 2030 — up from $15 billion in 2016.

It's amazing how much wealth China is generating in all of the smaller
surrounding Asian countries.

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kenneth
If you live in San Francisco, the restaurant China Live has Durian ice cream
that actually is rather delicious. Only good tasting Durian dish I've ever
had. I absolutely hate the smell of the fruit and don't particularly like the
slimey texture either.

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Mengkudulangsat
I wish Malaysians substitute palm oil monoculture with this. It's a tall local
species, which is a lot more accommodating to wildlife.

~~~
ShorsHammer
No one really likes Durian outside of the region, it's not popular.

Should they plant canola instead? It will require 4x the land.

Will the EU (who are some of the biggest exporters of palm oil alternatives)
replant the extensive forests they tore down for agriculture in the last
century or is it a _kick the ladder down_ type situation?

I'm a big conservationist and active in SEA, the current attitude of the EU is
absurdly unproductive and has gotten most of the population offside, Malaysia
needs uncut tracts of rainforest and guaranteed protected regions, this is
possible to do, dickheads with moustaches in Belgium aren't helping the
situation.

Another alternative is avoiding monoculture plantations altogether, but that
doesn't seem to work anywhere on Earth.

~~~
Mengkudulangsat
I'm a Malaysian who in the past managed two agriculture private equity funds.
I've engaged with dozens of local farmers of over the years.

The problem with palm oil monoculture is that it is so easy that it makes its
practitioners complacent. The value chains are established, the prices are
commoditized (there is a local futures market) and there is ample government
backing for international lobbying. Unfortunately, this means that the value-
add (and margins) at each step of the value chain is now really thin. Unless
you are vertically integrated and operate at enormous scale, you won't make
much.

Short, high-value, local-farm-to-plate, gourmet-ingredient agriculture is what
I dream of, sort of like what the Japanese have. It doesn't always have to
devolve into mega-agribusiness.

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ekianjo
While it's nicknamed the King of Fruits, I can't say I have ever liked that
much the taste of Durians (While I eat and enjoy pretty much all exotic
fruits). I wonder if one needs to have tasted Durian during childhood or
something in order to have the tongue for it?

~~~
thinkingemote
People in the west like coconut water having been exposed to it only recently.
And yet there are vast areas of the east where coconut water is meant to taste
like death and rot. Bizarre

~~~
vram11
Not bizarre.

De gustibus ...

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_gustibus_non_est_disputan...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_gustibus_non_est_disputandum)

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uptownfunk
Has anyone gotten it to fruit in America? I’d consider taking a trip to a
durian farm if I could get freshly fallen Durian.

Jackfruit is another one of my favorites in the tropical fruit world.

~~~
anthony_doan
Yes, I eat them all the time.

The easiest way to get them is frozen at an Asian super market. It's already
taken out of it's shell and put in an air seal bag then in a plastic box. Some
Asian super market have the whole fruit frozen. There are specialized places
that import just exotic fruits we have one here in Alhambra near Pasadena
iirc.

My parent just bought a jackfruit awhile ago from the specialty fruit importer
store. We had to wait for a few days for it to ripe before eating.

~~~
new2628
The question asked whether it _grows_ in America.

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anthony_doan
Thank you for the clarification. I didn't realize fruit means grows.

~~~
new2628
It is quite rare to use it as a verb to be honest.

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geomark
In Thailand (only) they now have durian pizza. Which disturbs me a lot more
than I think it should. [https://coconuts.co/bangkok/news/ooh-eww-pizza-
company-thail...](https://coconuts.co/bangkok/news/ooh-eww-pizza-company-
thailand-now-serves-durian-pizza/)

~~~
fiblye
Durian pizza is relatively common in China if you know where to look.

~~~
nneonneo
By “know where to look”, one usually just has to go to any Pizza Hut (必胜客),
which are very common in larger cities. I’ve tried the durian pizza before,
and it’s actually quite good, even though I’m not a big fan of durian itself.
Something about cheese and durian together works for my palate.

(Pizza Hut in China, it must be said, barely resembles it’s American
counterpart; in China, it’s a moderately upscale Italian family restaurant
which happens to specialize in pizza and pasta.)

~~~
yladiz
I think it’s because durian has a somewhat onion like taste and so I could see
how it pairs well with cheese.

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max23_
> “The Musang King is my favorite,” said Teh Bin Tean, a Singaporean
> researcher who has studied the durian genome. “Don’t try it first because
> the rest is all downhill.”

I wouldn't say the rest would be all downhill, there are many types of durian
and each has its own unique taste (I personally like the sweet & bitter one).

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sfsfsf6666
Before I knew what durian was, I and a close friend were served some by his
Honduran wife. I having a dumpster stomach, and have been known to eat
anything, took the biggest piece and popped it in my mouth and started
chewing. That's when I got hit by a number of flavors. The flavors were not
powerful, all of them just teasing. But I got them none the less. Rancid sock.
Sweetness. Turpentine. Death.

After the experience, I felt that the fruit was not largely available, not
local, not my cup of tea. Goodbye durian.

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asaph
"If it doesn’t stink, it’s not durian."

\- Tan Eow Chong

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neonate
[http://archive.is/6PmVL](http://archive.is/6PmVL)

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beautifulfreak
Are there other fruits that look like durian but are different inside? I once
ate an odd fruit which grew on a Caribbean island. It had black seeds and
creamy white flesh surrounding the seeds, was very sweet and not tart.

~~~
cusx
Soursop?

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soursop](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soursop)

~~~
beautifulfreak
Thanks. That could be it, too. The description fits what I had.

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lilsammy
Before I ate Durian, it always smelled really bad to me. Now, it just smells
strong.

The problem with buying it in the US is that the good ones cost $10/lb.

