Don't Judge a Book by its Cover...or its Stench.

I just returned from a week in Singapore, an island nation of about 4 million located 85 miles north of the equator at that southern tip of the Malay peninsula. I have a colleague, in the office here in Switzerland from Singapore. Upon learning I was headed to his home country for business, Eric began raving about the Durian fruit. 

"Oh you have to try Durian when you are in Singapore. Its the King of all fruit", he said while salivating at its thought.  For a couple of weeks leading up to the trip Eric kept on me about the Durian.  Finally, I promised him I would try his beloved fruit while visiting his home country.  "Just one thing, don't be put off by the smell.  Really it tastes nothing like it smells", he said.  I assured him I would not be put off by the smell, as I understand this concept of foul smelling, but good tasting.  There is a saying here in Switzerland "The stinkier the cheese, the better it tastes".  Some of my favorite cheeses smell pretty bad.  

During my last evening in Singapore, I told my host, I wanted to try Durian.  He thought I was joking at first, but then was pleased to find out I was not.  We grabbed a taxi from the hotel and made our way to one of the small Durian fruit stands set up in the parking lot of the restaurant district.    Durian is in season about every four months and we were lucky, as we hit the season right at its peak.  The fruit is highly prized in this part of the world for its high nutritional value and complex flavors.  The fact that it takes ten years for a Durian tree to bear fruit also adds to the mystique.  There are a number of different variations of the fruit, we would be sampling the sweet and the bitter versions.  Upon getting out of the cab the smell hit me, and we were still a good hundred feet or so from the 

stand.  The smell is a blend of rotting dumpster and day old

 vomit, very organic.   Not only is the smell less than appetizing, Durian is visually intimidating.  It is about the size of an American football covered with inch long spines and weighing between 5 and 7 pounds.  You have to hand it to the guy who first tried eating Durian, he was quite adventurous.  The fruit looks completely alien, from the dangerous spines to the fetus like insides.    Upon ordering our fruit, one of the workers grabbed a couple of plastic chairs from a stack and unfolded a table for us.  With a machete he cut open the fruit and placed it in front of us.  

Wow, the smell really hit me and my eyes started to water as I tried to maintain my composure.   Another colleague with me from Switzerland, Didier, did not even try to stay composed, he was wincing at the stench.  Inside the  halved fruit, are a few large seeds about the size of an avocado pit covered in a slimy skin.  Between the slimy skin and the seed is a custard like filling, the prize if you will.   We started with the sweet one first, I grabbed one of the seeds and quickly stuck it in my mouth sucking the meat off the seed.  It wasn't the smell that got to me as much as it was the odd custard texture.  It slides around your mouth as you try to coral it with your tongue to swallow, then spit out the large seed.  Ah, it wasn't that bad, but it wasn't that good either.  As promised it tasted nothing like it smelled, rather nutty and sweet with after note of onion.  I was ready to try the bitter one now, Didier on the other hand was done no more Durian for him.   The bitter Durian was quite different than the sweet.  It was more floral, less sweet and absent of the onion after note.  Of the two I preferred the bitter.  Come to find out many Durian aficionados also prefer the bitter over the sweet.  I would have to say, I had no strong feelings either way regarding the "King of all fruit", it neither delighted nor disgusted.  I am sure it is an acquired taste.