Has anyone here ever eaten a fruit called Durian?

[NNadir]

I'm catching up on my reading, and I came across a paper titled thus: Food Waste Durian Rind-Derived Cellulose Organohydrogels: Toward Anti-Freezing and Antimicrobial Wound Dressing (Xi Cui, Jaslyn Lee, Kuan Rei Ng, and Wei Ning Chen, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering 2021 9 (3), 1304-1312).

It contains this text:

Durian is a fruit which is famous all over the world, especially in Southeast Asia as its name is “king of the fruits”. Durian is popular for its special flavor and high-quality nutrients, which could afford health benefits for the human body. However, less than a half part of the entire durian is edible, while the other parts (rind and seeds) are treated as food waste in the durian industry.(18) Durian residues (rind and seeds) are usually used in landfills or burned, which pose a serious problem to the environment and, in the meantime, are also a waste of the natural resource. Durian rind is composed of 31.6% cellulose, 15.5% hemicellulose, and 10.9% lignin in dried durian rind.(19) The content of cellulose in durian rind is larger than that in okara,(20) which makes durian rind a sustainable cellulose resource for hydrogel fabrication, and this can also help reduce the environmental pollution.

Famous all over the world?

Serious problem to the environment?

Never heard of Durian...

Anyone?

[ret5hd]

1. I think this is the fruit that smells...

like absolute rotten zombie death puke...but tastes good. Many hotels (where it grows) forbid bringing the fruit inside.

[TheBlackAdder]

19. Anything you can ram a stick in to create a battle mace is probably not good for us to eat. 🤣

.

I've had them a couple of times. They're OK, but just freakin' huge.



.

[soothsayer]

2. Really want to some day, despite it smelling like rotting flesh

Supposedly tastes good.

Not 100% sure you can get it in the US. Think the season is summer.

[Bev54]

7. I live in Canada and you can get it in many of our larger grocery stores

[electric_blue68]

10. I saw some in Chinatown some years back.

I was surprised.

[soothsayer]

12. Ok I might have to be brave and track it down

Plenty of Asian markets in my area.

Summertime?

[electric_blue68]

18. I think it was warmer time of year. Long time back.

[Generic Brad]

23. It smells like a loaded baby diaper to me

And it tastes like road tar. In contrast, my daughter loves the smell and taste. Ironically, I like cilantro and she says that tastes like soap to her.

It’s like the blue dress/white dress of fruit.

[babylonsister]

3. Don't go there.

They're popular in Indonesia and all over SE Asia. I never tried it because I heard they smell like old sweat-soaked sneakers.

Some people regard the durian as having a pleasantly sweet fragrance, whereas others find the aroma overpowering with an unpleasant odour. The smell evokes reactions from deep appreciation to intense disgust, and has been described variously as rotten onions, turpentine, and raw sewage. The persistence of its odour, which may linger for several days, led certain hotels and public transportation services in Southeast Asia to ban the fruit.

[brush]

4. I have. They smell like hell but some people love the taste.

I've even heard it said that some men like as it reminds them of having oral with...not that there's any thing wrong with that.

Let's just say it's an acquired taste.

[Bev54]

6. To me it smelled a bit like rotting eggs.

[Bev54]

5. Yes I ate it when I was in SE Asia.

It is very difficult to get by the smell of it. We actually had to move hotels while in Malaysia because the smell was so bad, we could not sleep. We found a hotel that did not allow Durian. I found the taste was ok but nothing worth going through the smell.

[NRaleighLiberal]

8. I have enough trouble with stinky cheese - no way I could tolerate that.

I am not a "eat this horrible food" contest type person - I eat for enjoyment!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. The smell has been colorfully described

by food writer Richard Sterling as "turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock. It can be smelled from yards away." Anthony Bourdain once said once said of the fruit: "Your breath will smell as if you’d been French-kissing your dead grandmother."

[Goonch]

11. ;-{)

[happybird]

13. I've never had it, but saw this in my YouTube feed today

A timely coincidence, it was just posted a few hours ago.

It’s an entertaining channel. A bunch of Irish people try different food items, beverages, and alcohol from around the world and comment on it.

[electric_blue68]

16. Ha! How funny that showed up.

😂😂😂
I just watched it.
Oh those poor brave people!

[tblue37]

27. Very funny.

[electric_blue68]

14. Bwah! I read about it like 45+ years in ...

The National Geographic!

One person described it as "eating the most wonderful dessert in the middle of a garbage dump".
They told stories about people trying hide it in the heir hotel room, or despite multiple wrappings a person was thrown off their plane flight for sneaking one on board.

[sweetloukillbot]

15. They sell durian bobas at my local Vietnamese restaurant

I haven't summoned the nerve to try it yet.

[NNadir]

17. Thanks folks. I'm getting a feel for it and why I never heard of it. When I was a kid...

...I synthesized some selenophenols, which leached right through my gloves giving my hands a disgusting odor that was impossible to remove, even with oxidants like bleach.

My future wife agreed to hang with me anyway, so I guess she, if not me, can get through a bad smell and still like someone.

I'm glad, however, that I never heard of Durian until now, and understand entirely why this is so. One hopes that wound healing hydrogels made from the stuff aren't like selenophenols, leading one to consider whether it is better to bleed to death or become massively infected or smell like...well...many of you told me.

Thanks again.

[yellowdogintexas]

20. cats are not fond of it either

[electric_blue68]

21. Omg 😄 Those poor cats & kittens!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

22. Who knew cats have a gag reflex?

[electric_blue68]

24. And you as an Ocelot must be extra careful! 😉

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

25. I am definitely staying away from durian fruit.

[yellowdogintexas]

28. I am partial to the ones that try to bury it nt

[tblue37]

26. I've read that it stinks fiercely.

[DFW]

29. Sure--that is to say, I made a valiant effort.

They're as prevalent in Singapore at roadside fruit stands as peaches in Georgia.

They have an odor that is so nauseous that it made me ill. The vendors assured me that the taste was far better than the stinky smell, but I couldn't bring myself to put it in my mouth. Besides, the (supposedly) edible pods looked like giant lima beans, and I HATE lima beans.