Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Durians: The King of Fruit

Where: Singapore, Geylang
Specialty: Pungent fruit!

What I love about Singapore is that you can run out anytime at night and be able to fulfill your food cravings. I was taken to eat durians one evening. It's really not so bad, but like stinky cheese or tofu, I suppose some people handle it much better than others.

A display full of durian:




Here's how you eat it, with plastic gloves. This way you won't smell of durian for the next day or two ...


The durian we got was especially good. Strangely each section tasted slightly different. For the faint hearted, you can start with durian puffs which can be purchased at some bakeries. They are like cream puffs but filled with durian cream. It's also key to get a good durian because a bad one can ruin your first experience!

Really it's just a fruit, what's there to be afraid of :)

6 comments:

Dish This! said...

That is the weirdest looking food ever! What does it taste like??

mini said...

It is bordering on scary. You have to be careful opening it because of the spikes! Thankfully the guy at the store usually does it for you :)

The taste is indescribable, a little sweet, a little bitter and the flesh is mushy and creamy. And of course it smells extremely pungent! Some places in the US serve it but I recommend trying it in South East Asia. Fresher, cuz bad durian can be well bad!

Something About Mary said...

I don't recall ever having durian -- fresh or candied. I do know that it has a very pungent smell, but I have a friend who swears by it (that it's delish). You're making me think about going out and buying some.

Karen said...

I've been curious about durian ever since I bought a Thai cookbook 15 years ago...but I still haven't tried it. Do you think a frozen one would be OK? They have them in our local Super 88 (an Asian grocery store).

mini said...

Hi Karen- I had a frozen durian from super88 once when a friend had a huge craving. It was alright. The texture of the flesh doesn't taste quite right after being frozen. On the plus side though, it isn't as pungent.

Viagra Price said...

When I went to Venezuela I saw a similar fruit... they told me it was a "guanabana". So I think that's a huge guanabana. Do you know what's a guanabana? I think you should find some information about this fruit.