Sunday, August 25, 2013

Strong Durians!

Dear friends,


Kirsty is our hostess at Our Beautiful World this week and her word prompt for us is;


'STRONG'

I cannot help myself but to write about Durian, or infamously known here as the King of Fruits!. What is it gotta do with this week's theme?. 



Well, this thorny tropical fruit is the whiffiest of them all!. You either love it or hate it :). The aroma is so strong that quite often you see 'No Durian' signs in hotels, airports and on public transports!. [I wish I could add a whiff-me button in the post somewhere, so you could sample some :)]. 


The fruits can be found anywhere in South East Asia countries, either grew commercially in orchards or in someone's backyard. Or better still, buy them at local farmers market by the kilos!. It's a common sight to see people enjoy these fruits right there on the streets and not carrying them home in their cars. Smart.

Nevertheless, it brings comfort to a lot of people. Such as my family, minus me :). My uncle used to have a durian orchard in the hill up north. When we were kids, my mom would packed us up and spent the week at my uncle's and you've guessed it ... feast on durians!. Then I got really sick after all the heat from eating them and that possibly made me hated it, ever since. 



One doesn't pick a ripe durian from the trees. We have to wait for them to fully ripen on the trees and fall on the ground when it's time. Nifty?. FUN!!. My cousins and I would listened to the loud boom of the fallen fruit and make a dash to pick it up. Back then, I thought of wearing a helmet when looking for durian in the bush, much to my cousins' amuse. Well, you never know. 

Nowadays, one can enjoy the spiky fruit in little doses too. Like in ice-creams, jellies, cakes, fritters, pancakes, custards, chips, puddings, spicy sambals, you name it. Such as this crepe recipe. For the faint-hearted, this is your chance at trying :).

That's all friends, durian in a nutshell. Thank you Kirsty, for bringing up such sweet childhood memories. 

If you too have a story about 'Strong', why don't share them with us at Our Beautiful World this week?. Until next, have a great one!. HUGS.

21 comments:

  1. How interesting, I have never seen these before, and enjoyed reading your post, fun!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Weird and wonderful ... Thank you for sharing this story ... We are starting to get a lot of strange looking fruit over here now ... I see them in supermarkets ... We have such a diverse mix of culture in the UK ... in one small city there are over 200 languages spoken! If I saw these I wouldn't know what to do with them ... But I'll check out the recipe ... what do they taste like?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's really interesting to witness many different cultures & food nowadays, without actually flying to far out :). Once, I discovered (almost freaked out) the very purple dragon fruits, have you tried them?. So delish!!.
      The yellow flesh of durian fruit has a texture of heavy, rich custard. It taste something like rotten-onion cream-cheese with a hint of sweetness and nutty roasted almond. Hmmmmmmm, it smelled & taste disagreeable at first but after overcoming this, some may like it :). Something I can live without, LOL.

      Delete
  3. Hello Shahrul,

    What a fun post this was to read, wish it had a sniff button too. I like that you teach me things from around the world, I've never heard of these before. Love that you wanted to wear a helmet, that would be me too. My nose is so sensitive to scents now I bet these would be too STRONG for me to take. It's nice when these prompts bring up childhood memories too.

    Hope your week was a good one, any word on your camera? I miss seeing your artsy things, will have to go thru your archives and reread my favorites. Take care dear friend! HUGS!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Interesting post, Shahrul!!
    http://kalasirjana.blogspot.in/

    ReplyDelete
  5. One of my friend let me taste it after spending time to let the first skin out :-) :-) its delicious really :-) :-) :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ohh good for ya!!. Yes, many Malaysians LOVE this fruit and willing to spend a lot to enjoy them :).

      Delete
  6. Oh wow this reminds me of our "breadfruit" I almost made my post on them too!!! we would have the weirdest looking posts, LOL!!! I wonder if the durians weight as much as the breadfruits? and how strong are those trees to be able to hold up such heavy fruits. I didn't post because I wanted it to have a tree I plated in moms house 25 years ago and now is 60'tall, but she lives so far away from me I couldn't take the photo. They are in season right now and we fry them or boil them to be able to eat them, yummy!!! are yours a once a year crop too?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know, what a wonderfully weird fruit! and post :). We have breadfruit here too, and they are slightly lighter than durians. My grandma always fried us breadfruit snacks when we were kids, yumm!. Love dipping the crunchy pieces with plain sugar. Durian has peak seasons but I'm not sure how many times a year :). A few decades back, there were only very tall durian trees (reaching ~60ft or more) but with genetic engineering, more and more smaller trees that bear quick harvests are replacing the old one. Hugs.

      Delete
  7. I never heard of or saw this fruit before. Thank you for a fascinating description. Not sure I'll look for it tho :).

    ReplyDelete
  8. I reminds me of jackfruit !I have a big jackfruit tree in my garden and it also has a very strong aroma n as the fruit ripen it becomes even more intense.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I LOVE LOVE jack fruit!! So sweet & juicy. My grandma grew a jack fruit tree in her garden and we've spent many hours making newspaper pockets to protect the fruits from being eaten by squirrels :).

      Delete
  9. I can't tell you how many shows I've watched about this fruit and I would love to try it. I say that now.... but... ;) Reminds me of the crabapple tree I have outside. Loud suckers that fall off the tree and NOT edible at all, but great for cutting up and using to repel bugs in your basement.
    Loved this post!
    hugs to you,
    Lisa x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL, now you know dearest :). Was it on Discovery Channel or that chef who eats the weirdest food in his travel?. That's neat!.
      Yes, our land lord has a crabapple tree in the yard when I was living in Colorado. They're cute little apples, but OMG so sour & almost bitter. Not fun to step on the mushy fallen fruits on the ground either :). Hugs.

      Delete
  10. I just learned something new. I have never seen or heard of these. I am glad I stopped by..

    Hugs~

    ReplyDelete
  11. Me too - just learned something new today - I like that!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I've never heard of them before. Not sure if I would have the constitution to try them or not.

    ReplyDelete
  13. great photos and so fun to read your childhood memories as well as learn about durians~!

    :-)
    libbyQ

    ReplyDelete
  14. Alway great to read and learn about something new, I have never heard or seen a fruit like this, beautiful photos of these Durians.
    hugs Anni

    ReplyDelete
  15. No no no, THANK YOU for bringing back my childhood memory, I still can't remember my grandma's house in the kampong has a durian tree near the kitchen, which is at the back of the house, we, the kids, would rush to pick up the durian when we heard that loud noise, I so can see myself in your post there, LOL!

    ReplyDelete
  16. I love durian! I can sit and wait until my father, my hubby and my father in law open them for me...and I would just indulge.......close my eyes...taste it bit by bit slowly...and then just dive in.... Superb! ....lepas tuu... Susah nak tido malaam...panasssss...... Heheee....

    ReplyDelete

' Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen ' - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
BACK TO TOP