Durian Heaven

I’m neither a wine connoisseur or a cheese connoisseur, but I wouldn’t mind becoming an expert in Durians. I just love this fruit that’s forbidden on our buses and trains and many other places due to the strong smell. To me the aroma of a freshly cut open durian is can make me swoon with delight, but after you’ve eaten it and the smell that lingers in your car or home?  Not as pleasant.

I always feel that people who can’t bear the smell like my cousin are missing out. But I guess I am missing out too with things like raw oysters or clams because I can’t bear the texture which seems slimy to me.

When I was a kid, I could only eat a maximum of 2 seeds before I was stuffed.  These days I can polish off up to 8 if it’s really good. Maybe even 10. But in those cases it’s durian for dinner and nothing else. It’s about 66 calories per seed which is more than a small apple (only 50 calories).  Just to give you a gauge of how rich the king of fruit is. I still find it hard to believe though, but I guess an apple is has a higher water content while the durian is really dense.

Lately we were gifted with the Mao Shan (Mountain Cat Durian), also referred to as Hello Kitty Durian by some (seriously). It was from Geylang, where the best selection of fruit can be found. It was so darn good but as usual when I’m greedy I forget to take photos first. Prior to this experience I have heard of D24 and then XO durians, but it seems that Mao Shan is the best of the best.  You can read a more detailed guide here and  here.  Don’t bother wasting your calories on the lowest grade ones. I’ve had them and they were watery, tasteless and disappointing.  Didn’t satisfy by craving at all.  Usually the lousy  and cheapest ones (3 boxes for $10) are a very pale yellow and dry.  For the best one it’s about S$30 per box but you can bargain and they will give you a discount in the form of 2 free boxes if you buy 3, or something like that. My older cousin is great at bargaining so I need to ask her.

We also got some Butter Durians recently, which looked superior but didn’t taste as good as the creamier Geylang ones which were a lighter yellow and had a softer texture and slightly bitter more intoxicating taste.

But I took photos this time of the ones from Hougang. Looking at them is making me hungry all over again. I hope readers who don’t like durian are not put off by the thorny king of fruit. No thorns though – they all come nicely packaged and cling wrapped.

photo by bookjunkie

photo by bookjunkie

photo by bookjunkie

Before we devoured the king of fruit, the fleshy seeds came nicely presented under this cling wrap.

photo by bookjunkie

About bookjunkie

Blogging about life in Singapore & recently cancer too.
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10 Responses to Durian Heaven

  1. Maria says:

    Even though I don’t love durian, I love this post. I wonder if I’d feel differently about durian if I’d tried some more varieties? Maybe there’s a Hello Kitty in my future!

  2. Kelvin Ang says:

    OH YES! I LOVE DURIANS!!!

    Durian brings back fond childhood memories…

    I do miss the part when I heard from my mum that my dad is buying durians back. I will sit around and wait for him to come back with that big brown paper bag that people used to pack the real fruits in. He normally buys quite a number. I am a fan of sweet durians, not those sour ones. Sweet and a little creamy are my favorite, even till now. And we will sit in a circle, my mother, bro, myself and my dad will open up each one of them with his skillful hands. While eating, my bro and I will keep a lookout for the shell that has the deepest recess. Why? Cos we will put some salt inside and my mother will pour water to mix for a salt water drink. Pure bliss.

    ^_^

    • bookjunkie says:

      Thanks for sharing your childhood memories Kelvin 🙂 Sounds amazing and reminded me of my own. Yeah then our dad used to cut open the durian himself with a bit of help from mum 🙂 It was such a nice ritual for us kids. And all laid out on old newspapers. I never tried drinking the salt water from the shell before. I must try.

  3. mf says:

    Yum! Shared two Mao Shan Wang with two friends and their little boy just before I left Singapore, didn’t even count how many seeds each of us had! I must have some again when I return in May in the hope that baby will like the heavenly fruit unlike his dad! :p

    • bookjunkie says:

      That’s wonderful. I think my taste for it developed as I’ve been eating the fruit since I was 3 years old 😉 My parents used to get them from roadside stalls, when we drove to Malaysia. Those were the days 🙂

  4. Pam says:

    Great post! Though they say eating too much durian can cause great “heat” . . . (ie, it’s not good for ya).

  5. pamela solana says:

    is it good for dieters like me?

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