Durian. It seems as though everyone who has tried this fruit has some heated opinions about it. And it makes sense because durian is one of those sensory experiences that is truly in the mouth of the beholder.
I’ve heard from many SE Asians that durian is quite the regional delicacy– much like wine, cheese, and chocolate. A perfect case study for terroir, I’ve been waiting anxiously to get my hands on this stinky fruit since I saw a sign in a Singapore hostel saying “ABSOLUTELY NO DURIAN OR WE WILL ASK YOU TO LEAVE”. I’ve been so curious how a fruit can cause so much drama! Luckily for my studies, we are now in peak season of durian, and you don’t need to see them on the side of the road to know that they’ve arrived. Just close your eyes and inhale.
You know when you have one of those days when you think to yourself, “I’m going to remember this day for the rest of my life.” I had one of those days recently. My team and I decided to go to a water temple called Tampak Siring for a traditional water cleansing ritual. Afterwards we out on our kebayas and took part in the ceremony. It was a beautiful experience.
image of Ibu Carol, Pak Edu, me, Natale, and Marielli after the ceremony. November 2015.
On our way back, we saw a someone on the side of the road selling durian. “Ah, I’ve been wanting to try this. We should get come to try later” I said. And Marielli looked at me seriously and shook her head and said “No, Chrissy. We do this right here, right now.”
So we sat there with a police officer as he cut open the fruit. The smell evoked deep nostalgia for places in the world that I have not been (I’m not trying to be poetic, it just did). It also made me feel a bit disgusted, but I think I was just setting myself up. We dug in and pulled out individual sections slightly bigger than an egg. I had always heard that durians were “creamy”, so I expected to hold it and get messy, but there was a thin layer outside that holds the cream texture in.
Then I put it in my mouth. I have to express that the smell, texture, and taste caused some kind of psychological dissonance in my taste buds. First, the texture I loved. It was creamy and soft like crem brulee. The taste reminded me of 40% salal (snake fruit), 20% garlic, 10% sweet apple, 25% weird not-cold ice cream, and 5% mildew-y laundry. My expression was “oh my god this is so gross, it tastes so good, I love it” with an expression of suspicion on my face. This made everyone laugh and we all went back for more (except for Ibu Carol who told us we were crazy to be eating this before lunch).
Many Asians believe that Durian heats the body, like taking a shot of whiskey would. So in order to cool the body back down, you simply fill the quarter shell of the durian with water and gulp it down. I’ve heard that this also keeps you from smelling like a stinky sock later on.
I went on to research other descriptions of durian, knowing there would be some good ones out there. Here is an interesting one from 1856:
“This pulp is the eatable part, and its consistence and flavour are indescribable. A rich custard highly flavoured with almonds gives the best general idea of it, but there are occasional wafts of flavour that call to mind cream-cheese, onion-sauce, sherry-wine, and other incongruous dishes. Then there is a rich glutinous smoothness in the pulp which nothing else possesses, but which adds to its delicacy. It is neither acid nor sweet nor juicy; yet it wants neither of these qualities, for it is in itself perfect. It produces no nausea or other bad effect, and the more you eat of it the less you feel inclined to stop. In fact, to eat Durians is a new sensation worth a voyage to the East to experience.” (Alfred Russel Wallace, printed in Volume 8 of Hooker’s Journal of Botany in 1856. source)
But why exactly so durians smell so bad? Why are they so repulsive/delicious? According to an article by Smithsonian Magazine, “a group of scientists from the German Research Center for Food Chemistry has attempted to figure out how exactly the fruit produces such a powerful stench.
“In breaking down aroma extract, taken from Thai durians, with a mass spectrometer and gas chromatograph, the team, led by Jia-Ziao Li, pinpointed 50 discrete compounds in the fruit responsible for its uncommon aroma. Those compounds included eight that hadn’t been detected in durians before—and four compounds that had been completely unknown to science.
“Their analysis suggests that it is not any single compound but instead the mixture of different chemicals that produces the fruit’s powerful stench. The compounds are identified by their chemical formulas, which are likely cryptic to anyone without a degree in organic chemistry (1-{sulfanyl}ethanethiol, for example), but the research team associated each one with a particular odor.
“What’s interesting is that none of the compounds individually seem to match with the characteristic durian smell—they range widely, and include labels like fruity, skunky, metallic, rubbery, burnt, roasted onion, garlic, cheese, onion and honey. A number of them have been detected in just a few other substances, such as cooked beef, yeast extract, dried squid and leeks. Somehow, the combination of these 50 chemicals produces the powerful scent that has entranced and repulsed people the world over” (Stromberg, 2012)
I think this is what makes durian “indescribable” and hard to pinpoint. I personally would like to try durian again (perhaps a different variety?) and see what adjectives I can come up with!
post-durian smiles. Nov 2015.
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