What is that smell?

When we first arrived in Malaysia, my husband and I quickly learned what Durian is and now I can honestly say, I will never forget about this strange food…mostly because of its smell!  Widely revered as the King of Fruits in Southeast Asia, durian is very popular throughout Malaysia, one of its native countries.  When walking through the shopping malls in KL, you can find durian ice cream, durian coffee, durian biscuits and even durian candy.  You will know when you are getting close to durian, because its smell proceeds it.  I have to say it’s like nothing else I have ever smelled before.  The odor of a durian has been described as pig droppings mixed with petroleum gas and onions and compared to sewage, stale vomit and skunk spray.  The durian fruit is even banned from most hotels and prohibited from bringing on airplanes throughout Malaysian.  You literally see signs everywhere in the airports!  Sounds like something you want to eat, right?  But supposedly all though it smells like HELL, the local Malaysians I have met said it tastes like HEAVEN.  So after a year of living here in Malaysia, we finally took the plunge and with our noses held, we tried the durian.

We scouted out a road-side vendor to hold our taste test challenge, because these are some of the best places to find the freshest of durians.  As we walked up to the stand, we approached a sign and realized that there are many different “types” of durian to choose from.  So after speaking to the salesman, we decided to try a couple types, but the one which we actually “enjoyed” the most was Rajah Kunyit aka Mao Shan Wang (Cat Mountain King).  After we watched him cut open the fruit with a small machete, we timidly pulled out a piece, gave one last look to each other and opened our mouths.  To me, it tasted like a piece of mushy, sweet corn…hmm, not that bad after all.  Then as I kept eating the fruit, it tasted more like a strange rotting, creamy custard.  The consistency was the strangest as you couldn’t really chew it or swallow it whole, so you kinda just swished it between your tongue and teeth until it was mushy enough to consume.  The outside of the mushy fruit almost felt like it had a thin membrane wrapped around it that slowly melted in your mouth.  What a strange experience!

Now you try…if you so dare!

If you want to read more about Durians, here’s a great site I found:

http://penangdurianfarm.com/our-durians.html