Durian - delectable or detestable??

So. One of my immediate missions upon arrival in Singapore - try the big, spiky fruit called durian. It's apparently like the 'national' fruit of Singapore. Grown in Malaysia, but Singapore built a big-arse building that looks one. The Esplanade Arts Centre.

Anyway, had a good meal tonight of chicken rice and black chicken soup. Was tasty.

Walking down the road in Geylands, and came across a durian stall. Apparently, they have all different grades.

The more you pay, it seems the creamier the fruit.

Righto. My personal experience. 'Enjoyed' a durian that literally just arrived at the stall - I saw the shipment. The bloke split it open, showed me the creamy, custardy pods and said $30. Struth!!! But - I had it on good authority, it was a good durian.

So the pods were like a deep yellow custard colour, and had the texture of custard that had gone cold.

First thing I noticed though, was that the supposedly crazy-stupid pungeant smell simply wasn't there. It had a unique kind of smell to be sure, but nothing entirely odorous.

So there was one myth kinda busted. Andrew Zimmern, you're a light-weight.....

So, eating the fruit...... Kinda fun to eat - creamy, a little fibrous, gooey in the hands.....  First taste, was not good. It had quite a bitter taste, a mishmash of strange flavours in the front of the mouth. Pretty quickly though, it developed into a much sweeter aftertaste in the back of the palate - not altogether unpleasant.

As I continued to eat the fruit, it was a repeat of that strange combination - unpleasant first explosion of crazy taste, aftertaste of almost brandied-custard. However - after careful consideration, the aftertaste does not justify undergoing the initial bitter flavour.

I endured, carefully memorising the smells, the tastes, the texture. I shouldn't have bothered - apparently, the durian repeats on you LONG after you eat it, and so far, two hours after consuming it, I can testify to that fact! A passing American said, "Wait til the morning"!, so apparently this stuff lingers a LOOOOONG time!!!!

I've even had an 11.6% to drown out the taste, but to no avail.... The only consolation is that it seems the bitterness lessens just a little with every durian burp......

A couple of interesting annecdotes about the durian:

The fruit is never plucked from the tree - it is only harvested once it has naturally fallen from the tree.

A 'good' durian can fetch up to $60 per fruit in Singapore.

It is, according to the Chinese, a 'heat' fruit, meaning it naturally heats the body. Therefore, locals rarely eat it during the day, mostly at night.

Durian is never to be eaten whilst drinking beer, because together they are too 'heaty'. Warms you up too much....

Upon finishing the fruit, it is believed that drinking water poured into the empty pod shell stops you from getting a sore throat.

As for me, would I eat it again? Possibly. Cucumber, in my opinion, is the worst food in the western world, so I compare everything to it. I would rather eat durian than cucumber, that's for sure!!!!

Enjoy a couple of photos. Tomorrow it's off to have breakfast with the orang utans.....