Durian and the freezer found each other out of necessity. A ripe fruit lasts only a few days before it slumps and ferments, the smell fills a room, and
Most durian buyers never meet D2. Malaysia registered it in 1934 as one of its very first clones, under the name Dato Nina, and the export machine built
The hardest part of durian is not growing the tree, it is knowing the hour to take the fruit. Cut it early and the flesh is pale and starchy;
Durian paste is ripe durian flesh worked smooth and put up for storage, and it lands in one of two camps that behave nothing alike in the kitchen.
Two countries grow the same species, Durio zibethinus, and end up with two products that share almost nothing on the plate. Thai growers cut the durian
Walk through a tropical market and three big, spiky fruits can sit in the same bin, so alike on the outside that shoppers mix them up daily.
A durian with four names across three languages usually has a story behind it, and D160 has a good one. Most Americans meet it under its glossiest label
D88 confuses more durian buyers than almost any clone I get asked about. Part of that is its split reputation, and part is that it often turns up under
The question lands at my farm stand more than any other about this crop. A visitor picks up a spiky husk, wrinkles their nose, and asks whether the thing
Durian desserts occupy an odd corner of my work. I farm exotic fruit outside San Diego, but I cannot ripen a durian tree reliably in this climate, so nearly