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Red Durians, King Of Fruit?

Red Durians? Who doesn’t know durians? Surely everybody knows about durians, the prickly skin with distinctive odor, strong and penetrating.

Some people like the durians because of the fragrant and delicious flesh; others find that the aroma is overpowering and offensive.

Whatever people may think about durians which are native to Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia, we have different kinds of durians.

Normally the color of the flesh is yellow but red durians found in the forest at banks of Mahakam river, Kutai, East Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Red durians? Yes, it is different from the ‘normal’ durian we usually eat. However it has things in common, prickly skin and the odor is very distinctive and stinging.

The flash is thinner and drier compared with the cultivated fruits which are thicker and creamier texture.

However, the taste is similar with other durians although some have described it as sweetish sour. People of Dayak Kenyah call this a leaf durian, perhaps it is because the leaves are almost as wide as an adult’s hand.

Red Durians, The History of Durian

The word “durian” comes from the Malay word which means thorn (duri); the adding of suffix-an (to form a noun in Malay). Durians are fruits of several tree species belonging to the genus Durio and the Malvaceae family.

The fruits are quite famous in Southeast Asia as the “king of fruits”. They are really distinctive due to their large size, unique odor, and formidable thorn-covered husk.

The fruits can grow as large as 30 centimetres (12 in) long and 15 centimetres (6 in) in diameter, and they weigh one to three kilograms (2 to 7 lb).

A durian tree will grow well in the type of soil sediment (alluvial), with height at 50 – 200 m above sea level. Its shape ranges from oblong to round, the color of its husk green to brown, and its flesh pale yellow to red, depending on the species.

Durians have been known to the Western world for about 600 years. The well-known 19^th-century British naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace described their flesh as "a rich custard highly flavoured with almonds".

The flesh can be consumed at various stages of ripeness, and it is used to flavor a wide variety of savoury and sweet edible in Southeast Asian cuisines. The seeds can also be eaten when cooked.

Culture

As it is native fruits in Southeast Asia, some of the countries have related stories about durians. The durian symbolized the subjective nature of ugliness and beauty in Hong Kong director Fruit Chan's 2000 film Durian Durian, and was a nickname for the reckless but lovable protagonist of the eponymous Singaporean TV comedy Durian King played by Adrian Pang.

The oddly shaped Esplanade building in Singapore is often called "The Durian" by local people, and "The Big Durian" is the nickname of Jakarta, Indonesia. Thailand contributed “Durian” to the list of storm names for Western North Pacific tropical cyclones.

Photo: National Geographic, Johnmanjaji on Flickr, Travel Folio / Text : Indoflick / Red Durians

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