Durian!

Never let it be said that I won't do anything for a good review

This is actually the second Durian I purchased to review. The first one I got in New York at New Years, however I never got a chance to open it before I left.

For those of you who may not know, Durian is an Asian fruit that is famous for it's rather pungent smell. Many people say that the smell is reminiscent of dirty diapers, old onions and rotting corpses. In some countries there are even restrictions as to where you can eat them. For more information then you will probably ever want click over to Durianpalace.com
Personally, I didn't think the smell was so bad. Mostly it was like a strong sulfur it was strongest breaking into the rind, but once the fruit was opened the sulfur mellowed and it was just fruity.

Before:

After:


The flesh is segmented into pod-like lobes. The lobes are both a kind of foie gras looking solid and a stringy, mushy membrane. The actual fruit smelled sort of like a combination of onion and melon. Not nearly the dead body smell I was expecting- and some how I have made that sound like a bad thing.

The taste.
People seem to be split on the taste. Durian seems to be a love it or hate it thing. to use two examples with people you have probably heard of.
Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre Foods couldn't eat it. Considering the things Andrew will eat it was pretty surprising that it was a fruit that did him in. Here's a clip, the durian comes in around 7:00 minutes.

Now Tony Bourdain absolutely LOVES the stuff as you can see here (durian is about 6:00 minutes in):

So now that you know what people far more qualified to have an educated opinion then I think about it what did I think?
Really it's not that bad. I preferred the more solid pieces to the custard like parts. The flavor was sort of like honey dew, banana and just general "fruityness" mixed with mild onion.
I think after all the build up that I had about durian I was actually kind of let down. It wasn't nearly as bad as I feared it would be, but at the same time there was no epiphany moment where I felt like I had discovered the coolest thing ever. All in all I am glad I tried it and I feel like I went up another couple hardcore foodie points. Hey, I did make it further then Andrew Zimmern and that has to count for something.

A word of caution. Durian and alcohol shouldn't be consumed at the same time- click the link for Durian Palace for more info. Also, be prepared for some indigestion one way or the other. I warn you it WILL suck- but think of it this way you get to relive the fun that was durian! (look I had to find some bright side to it!)


PURCHASED FROM:
Ranch 99 Supermarket