Durian Dismay

[gavinart]

I bought a fresh Durian from chinatown yesterday -- first time I've done so.

Yech! Who else cannot stand the taste of this fruit?

[sport]

Ah Don't say that. I am so looking forward to my first one.

[aledwards]

Ha! My husband & are are laughing so hard here! We couldn't stand it. If you look around online, you'll find that people either LOVE it or HATE it. Doesn't seem to be a middle ground too often. I didn't think it was possible to have such an adverse reaction to fruit! It was almost comical... there were three of us, and we were all so excited about our first Durian. We opened it, and none of us wanted to say "oh my God, what's that smell?"... so we all smiled & said, "wow, interesting odor". But after we took our first bites, we couldn't contain ourselves anymore. My husband ran it out of the house even, to get the smell away.... and he didn't even want to put it into the compost pile! ha!
That said, there are scores of people who just love it! You just have to try it & see for yourself! :)

[gavinart]

Don't mean to ward you off -- I know there are Durian enthusiasts on this forum who would tell you otherwise!

I was excited to try it too! First -- it was hard to get over the smell.
Second the look of it -- like an alien pod (this actually influenced me to buy it in the first place...) Third --The texture of the meat... ewe. Fourth -- The weight and storage issue... Fifth -- the aftertaste and smell on your hands...

I'm sure it's an acquired taste, just not one I want to acquire.

I could see where someone would enjoy it (someone who has a totally different sense of taste and biological make-up). It has a smell and taste I have NEVER experienced, though I was disappointed.
__________________

[gavinart]

[QUOTE=aledwards]We opened it, and none of us wanted to say "oh my God, what's that smell?"... so we all smiled & said, "wow, interesting odor". But after we took our first bites, we couldn't contain ourselves anymore. My husband ran it out of the house even, to get the smell away.... and he didn't even want to put it into the compost pile! ha! QUOTE]

Funny!
The vendor who sold it to me said I would need a toothbrush after.

[JoJo]

I thought it was just me. It was horrible.

JoJo

[RowanC]

:::LAUGHING so HARD:::::

Ya either love 'em or ya hate 'em.

I love 'em but I heard that in some countries they're illegal to open on the streets! roflol

Well.. at least now you know!

[shakti17]

durian is an acquired taste. if you give it a couple more tries you may love it. i call it "nature's ice cream" yum!

ps we had 2 at the brooklyn potluck friday. it was fun!

[aledwards]

ha! My husband just reminded me of somethign else- a few weeks ago we were watching a show on the travel channel... a guy was travelling all over the world, eating his way through all the odd foods he could find. He ate EVERYTHING... parts were hard to watch. -and he didn't have many bad things to say about any of it.... I'm talking hearts of frogs that were still beating, etc. The final thing he did was go to a Durian fruit grower... picked a fresh one right of the tree. The grower picked him the ideal fruit, opened it for him, and the guy ended up gagging & spitting it out. The final words of the show were something like "who would have thought that the thing to get me in the end would be a fruit?"
ha!

[rawpriestess]

I tried Durian once, that about says it all. LOL


I know Paul Nison loves them, but I can't stand them, and we can get fresh ones here for so little, and frozen for almost nothing, and yet, I just can't eat them.

[honeybee joy]

I wished I liked them, I think it would be funny to be in a drive-in theater, where people smoke pot or their black and milds, or in a park, where people smoke, and barbque meat, and just break open a durian, so they would have to be grossed out. LOL I have wanted to do that sooo bad!

I did try the durian once, all I had was this small bite off of the tip of a spoon. I wasn't ready to try it yet, sometimes you have to be emotionally prepair to try something new, then I walk in the kitchen and my roomate was hacking it open. I was like, so much for being ready! That was all I needed to try. I didn't taste the chocolate, or the strawberry flavors, I did taste a garlicy flavor. Maybe I had a bad one.

It did make my whole apartment stink! LOL

I am gonna try it again in the future, RawTruth said that she did not like it the first time she tried it. Just not any time soon.

Maybe I could take it to a family X-mas party, and she what their reaction is!!! LOL

[RawTruth]

Yep, first time I ran into one (not literally, of course, ouch!) at the opening of a new raw venue, I couldn't stand to be in the same room as the durian. And, there was only one sitting on a side table in a big room! Ha! Couldn't even imagine ever wanting to eat one judging from the smell!

Then ... many months later ... several were brought out as a treat for a very dear person's birthday. He ... and everyone else ... were pouncing on it! I watched them open it with their hands and scoop the fruit out ... with their hands and moan in ecstasy. So, I accepted some. Hmmmm ... not so bad. Well -- definitely different. But, I'm open to "different" things. When I took tours to Europe, I always taught my students to never ever judge something just because it's different than what they were familiar with. It was only different .. it wasn't wrong or bad. So ... I tried some more durian. Okay, the texture was silky and smooth and pudding like. The taste was different than the smell, for sure. And, the prying it out was really interesting -- tropical and not anything like an apple or an ordinary orange -- our staple fruits here!!

If I hadn't been influenced by my friends or hadn't been introduced to it slowly and wasn't half fascinated with it anyway, I wouldn't have tried it ... or wouldn't have allowed myself to like it.

It's called the King of Fruits. Now that I'm a convert, I understand why.

Oh -- being told by my raw teacher that it can get you high helped, too!!! And she was right.

[Zena]

Ohhh, I just got my first one today, found it randomly while looking for young coconuts. I AM ADDICTED. No one else in the house really liked it, to quote my mom it's like 'Skin... lung.... onion.. grody, alien... WEIRD.' but to me it's just wonderful, custardy goodness. We must be lucky, it didn't smell bad at all, and was ripe right when we got it.

[honeybee joy]

)Originally Posted By RawTruth
Oh -- being told by my raw teacher that it can get you high helped, too!!! And she was right.

What do you mean by that? Does it make you happy? Do you mean drunk like high?

[Revvell]

Maybe never liking custard had something to do with it's ummmm, limited appeal to me (she says diplomatically). :p

Revvell

[shakti17]

rawtruth, maybe that is true about the high part! i was so happy at the potluck --- come to think of it, whenever i eat durian i get giddie. maybe that is also why durians are best when shared with a friend!

coconut water also makes me high! if i drink A LOT of it!

[rawstrawberry]

MMMM I love durian plain and mixed with pineapple mmmmmmmmmm

Raw Strawberry

[Sheryl]

There's a three times rule. Many love it from the start, but for people that don't you try a small amount each time, 3 times, and you're usually hooked. We've experimented with this after hearing it and found it to be true!

The other trick is to have people that know and love durians buy them for you when starting. I know even knowing what to pick about half of ours aren't that nice. I would love you all to start with one that's delicious!

Cheers,
Sheryl

[RawTruth]

I would love you all to start with one that's delicious!Yes, this is so important. I wish the same.

[ChaiLife]

I was so excited to find my first durian. It was like going on a first date. The anticipation, the unkown, etc.

So I picked one out (it was frozen sad to say) and took it home. It just sat there on the kitchen counter with it's own little smell to it. It started to crack some and I knew that its time had come. I called my husband and he said to wait for him until he got home from work. We all ate our dinners with anticipation and then the unveiling came. We took our durian outside and all sat around it. Then I plunged my fingers in and pulled it apart. The kids were horrified but still too curious to look away. I pulled out my first pod and offered it to my family first. The only one to accept was my husband. He was the brave one. Then I took one and together we took our first bite. It was so heavenly. My daughter tried it but my five year old son ran away in terror.

I love durian now! I brought it with me to our synagogue and opened my zip loc bag for a munch and noticed some people starting to look around to see what the smell was. Hope they liked it! Another person sitting at my table politely zipped my bag back up though. LOL
Looking forward to getting my next one. SO good. Maybe I need to eat more than one pod to get that high feeling, RawTruth? ;)

Kelly

[RawTruth]

Ha ha ha, Kelly. Ya know, in Thailand there are signs outside airports and hotels forbidding anyone from bringing durian in -- because of the smell. I think of it now as a delightful aroma, but the uninitiated always think there's a gas leak. LOL

You restrained yourself to only one pod? Wow, I'm impressed with your self-control.

Ideally, it should be eaten on an empty stomach. And, yes, you will get high from it -- well, at the minimum, a feeling of well-being and good will usually descends. Again, eating and sharing with friends (a husband qualifies!) is the best way to eat it, I think. Though, I do have to be more civil and be careful to keep the custardy smears off my face when with others.

[heabrook]

hubby and I bought one just recently. We hated it :( We were so excited to try one, but it was just plain bad!!! I wish I could say otherwise but we just didn't like the taste at all. Blech!

Is there such a thing as a BAD durian? Perhaps it wasn't good... or rotten? Maybe we will try one again in the future...

We also bought a cherimoya but didn't like it either. To me, it tasted like ginger with a sweet flare. Hmpphhhhh...... We like trying different things too, but unfortunately those two items just didn't do it for us.

[dreamrawalwz]

I HATE durians! lol. I was so excited to try it. It's look drew me in. When I opened it up it smelled os bad! Honestly, a bit graphic, but this is waht the inside looked to me (from what i remmeber): white poop haha. Eww I know! The texture of each secion was kinda ... well, i had to "pop" through the skin to the custard part. So that was yucky to me. Then the taste itself was OK with a nutty immediate after taste, but very quickly it went from nutty to horrible and stayed with me for the rest of the day! I could not get it out of my mouth!

[Revvell]

Is there such a thing as a BAD durian?

Yeah, every durian is a bad durian. :p

Revvell

[RawTruth]

Yes, unless you have a very experienced guide, it's quite likely you'll get a "bad" one -- The season is just beginning, actually, so they're not so ripe at the moment. And the frozen ones aren't my favorite. Even then, you have to know how to tell that it's ripe. A unripe, bad durian is hideous!!

Sheryl's post had the best way to approach it with the three strikes. That's about what it took for me.

[Sheryl]

Kelly your post is like poetry to me - absolutely beautiful. I loved sharing that first durian experience with you again!

THANK YOU!

Cheers,
Sheryl

[JinxieKat]

I just wish I could get my fingers on a durian! They had one at the raw food lecture by Paul Nisen but when they opened it up it was bad. *grump* I was more excited about the durian than the lecture *lol*


Jinx

[ChaiLife]

Thanks Sheryl. It truly is an experience best shared with someone you love. Or even someone you just like a little. :p

Now that I tried a good one, I am afraid to go back to the store. What if I get a bad one!! :confused: