Durian
Its shape ranges from oblong to round, the colour of its husk from green to brown, and its flesh from pale yellow to red, depending on the species.
The persistence of its strong odour, which may linger for several days, has led some hotels and public transportation services in Southeast Asia, such as in Singapore and Bangkok, to ban the fruit.
The flesh can be consumed at various stages of ripeness, and it is used to flavour a wide variety of sweet desserts and savoury dishes in Southeast Asian cuisines.
[5] The name of the type species, D. zibethinus, is derived from Italian zibetto (the civet), as the strong pungent stink of the fruit reminded people of the smell of the animal.
[8] Its shape ranges from oblong to round, the colour of its husk green to brown, and its flesh pale-yellow to red, depending on the species.
[8] Among the thirty known species of Durio, nine produce edible fruits: D. zibethinus, D. dulcis, D. grandiflorus, D. graveolens, D. kutejensis, D. lowianus, D. macrantha, D. oxleyanus and D.
[10] Since this species is open-pollinated, it shows considerable diversity in fruit colour and odour, size of flesh and seed, and tree phenology.
They are now propagated by layering, marcotting, or more commonly, grafting, including bud, veneer, wedge, whip and U-grafting, onto seedlings of randomly selected rootstocks.
[16] The Malaysian Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry has since 1934 maintained a list of registered varieties, where each cultivar is assigned a common name and a code number starting with "D".
There are 13 common Malaysian varieties having favourable qualities of colour, texture, odour, taste, high yield, and resistance against various diseases.
[19] Other popular cultivars in Malaysia include "Tekka", with a distinctive yellowish core in the inner stem; "D168" (IOI), which is round, of medium size, green and yellow outer skin, and easily dislodged flesh which is medium-thick, solid, yellow in colour, and sweet;[20] and "Red Prawn" (Udang Merah, D175), found in the states of Pahang and Johor.
[23][24] In Thailand, Mon Thong is the most commercially sought after cultivar, for its thick, full-bodied creamy and mild sweet-tasting flesh with moderate smell and smaller seeds, while Chanee is most resistant to infection by Phytophthora palmivora.
[52] People in Southeast Asia with frequent exposures to durian are able to easily distinguish the sweet-like scent of its ketones and esters from rotten or putrescine odours which are from volatile amines and fatty acids.
In addition, the fruit is highly appetising to diverse animals, including squirrels, mouse deer, pigs, sun bear, orangutan, elephants, and even carnivorous tigers.
Some species grow so tall that they can only be collected once they have fallen to the ground, whereas most cultivars of D. zibethinus are nearly always cut from the tree and allowed to ripen while waiting to be sold.
Some people in southern Thailand prefer their durians relatively young, when the clusters of fruit within the shell are still crisp in texture and mild in flavour.
In Kelantan of Malaysia, fresh durian or tempoyak is mixed with onion and chilli slices, lime juice and budu (fermented anchovy sauce) and eaten as a condiment with rice-based meals.
The seeds, which are the size of chestnuts, can be eaten boiled, roasted or fried in coconut oil, with a texture that is similar to taro or yam, but stickier.
[65] Translated from the Latin in which Poggio Bracciolini recorded de Conti's travels: "They [people of Sumatra] have a green fruit which they call durian, as big as a watermelon.
In 1741, Herbarium Amboinense by the German botanist Georg Eberhard Rumphius was published, providing the most detailed and accurate account of durians for over a century.
However, in more recent circumscriptions of Durioneae, the tribe into which Durio and its sister taxa fall, fleshy arils and spiny fruits are derived within the clade.
[15] Since the early 1990s, the domestic and international demand for durian in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region has increased significantly.
[74] The latter belief can be traced back at least to the 18th century when Rumphius stated that one should not drink alcohol after eating durians as it will cause indigestion and bad breath.
In 1981, J. R. Croft wrote in his Bombacaceae: In Handbooks of the Flora of Papua New Guinea that "a feeling of morbidity" often follows the consumption of alcohol too soon after eating durian.
Several medical investigations on the validity of this belief have been conducted with varying conclusions,[74] though a study by the University of Tsukuba finds the fruit's high sulphur content inhibits the activity of aldehyde dehydrogenase, causing a 70 percent reduction of the ability to clear certain toxins such as alcohol from the body.
[78] Nevertheless, trees bearing mature durians are dangerous because the fruit is heavy, armed with sharp thorns, and can fall from a significant height.
[88] The warnings against the supposed lecherous quality of this fruit soon spread to the West – the Swedenborgian philosopher Herman Vetterling commented on so-called "erotic properties" of the durian in the early 20th century.
Forests are cleared to make way for large durian plantations, compounding an existing deforestation problem caused by the cultivation of oil palms.
[90] Animal species such as the small flying fox, which pollinates durian trees, and the Malayan tiger are endangered by the increasing deforestation of their habitats.
[90][91] In the Gua Musang District, the state government approved the conversion of 40 km2 (10,000 acres) of forestry, including indigenous lands of the Orang Asli, to durian plantations.
