That Thorny Green Thing…

. . . called the durian.

The aptly named King of Fruits

Love it or hate it, the durian is here to stay. Over years and years of cultivation and genetic modification, it has become a part of Malaysian living. Granted there are many Malaysians who detest it to the bone, but if you take 10 Malaysians and put them in a room with a mountain of opened durians, at least 7 Malaysians will pounce on them with much vigour. The other 3 would just hold their breath the entire time and bang on the doors begging to be let out, until they faint from the less-than-fragrant scent or from lack of oxygen.

I literally woke to the scent of durians yesterday. Some kind soul gave us durians, which means yay no need to spend money buying them!

Eating durians is an experience. It’s not merely ingesting creamy yellow bitter/sweet flesh. Each time you gather round a roadside stall or sit in the comfort of your home to eat it, you exercise your taste buds. Each fruit is different in taste and scent, which is why you should always eat at least one ulas from each fruit. *what is ulas in English anyway?*

I personally like the creamy, bitter kind. The ones where you can suck on its flesh, which almost feels like it’ll melt in your mouth like cotton candy. Sweet durians don’t have the kind of oomph that bitter ones do.

One pangsa of durian *what’s pangsa  in English?*

One ulas of awesome creamy durian

Of course, the durian experience is never complete without taking the people you eat them with into account. Who you eat durians with really do matter.If you’re eating durians with durian-haters who keep scrunching up their nose and saying “Hurry up lah”, it makes you less satisfied.

Which is why I personally believe that one should always eat durians with people whom you care about. Like your family and close friends. That way you can make lame jokes about durians and how God is so smart for making durians, and still get away with it.

The only man in the family opening the delectable fruit

The Twin trying to fix her printer while we were all eating durian

The Twin eventually gave in to the durian temptation and abandoned her printer

Durians are excellent bonding material. There isn’t a single fruit in the world which will give you the opportunity to bond over prickly thorns, smelly fruit and yellow flesh.

No offence, but I do feel that you durian-haters are missing out on the experience of a lifetime. =)