durian

The durian tree (Durio zibethinus) spends most of the year giving no sign it will ever bloom, then sets its whole reproductive schedule in motion over

Small durian means two very different things, and the difference decides whether you should worry. A tree that keeps turning out tiny, lopsided fruit has

Cut open almost any durian and the flesh inside glows some shade of yellow, from pale butter to deep gold. That color is the durian norm, and its exact

Durian is the one fruit where your instincts lie to you. The smell that would tell you any other fruit had rotted, strong and a little funky, is exactly

Put a durian and a lychee side by side and you would never guess they both count as prized Asian fruit. One is a spiky giant that can weigh three kilograms

Most durians sold outside the tropics arrive firm, cut a few days early so they survive the trip, and a firm durian is not ready to eat.

A durian is only as good as the moment you open it, and most people meet the fruit at the wrong moment. I grow durian under glass here in San Diego and

My greenhouse in San Diego runs at 82 F and 80 percent humidity year round, which is the only way Durio zibethinus survives this far from the equator.

People new to tropical fruit lump durian and soursop together all the time, since both are big, green and covered in spikes. That surface resemblance hides

Cut open a red durian for the first time and your eyes will argue with your brain, because flesh that shade of crimson looks like it was dyed in a lab.