Durian - you either love it or hate it!

Durian is considered as the king of all fruits in South East Asia. It has very pungent smell, and the strong odour may linger in the car for several days if the fruits are kept in the boot for just a few hours! I once traveled in a tour bus in my younger days, and somebody had packed a basket of durians on board the luggage compartment - you could imagine how the smell of durians permeated through the whole bus throughout the journey. And needless to say, it is forbidden to bring durians into the MRT station.

Most Asians love and adore durians. But majority of the caucasians and people from East Asia (Japan, China, Korea) abhor the fruits. It is the strong smell, which has been unceremoniously linked to that of human wastes, that is the main culprit in turning people away. I must say if one can overcome the initial disgust of the strong odour and venture to take a bite of the fruit, he/she will most likely be captivated by the bitterly sweet texture of the fruits.

In my younger days, my father would buy durians home for me whenever I returned home during school vacation. In those days, the durian vendors would just make a small cut onto the durian shell, so that we could take a peek at the texture of the fruits. We had to open up the durian shell on our own - the technique was acquired through repeated observations followed by practices. Inevitably, we would by poked by the thorns along the way, but the taste of durians more or less made up for the "suffering".

Now, it is my turn to buy durians for my children. Cheng Yee and Cheng Kai love durians, but strangely Cheng Jie abhors the fruits. Perhaps it has to do to the fact that he was born in America, and not in Singapore as my two other children! (and somehow the American way of thinking had permeated through his mind??). The durian vendors nowadays are quite professional - they make a deep and wide cut into the durian shell, making it easier for novices to pry open the durian shell!

Well, durians come in different grades and flavours. Some are rather exorbitantly priced. But for me, the economically priced durians, at 3 boxes per $10 (about 6-8 durians per box) are good enough!