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
Somebody at my stand last August held up a 2 kg Monthong and asked what he was actually paying for. Fair question, and the answer stings: most of that
Yes. Harder than almost anything else I have put in the ground, and I have been growing tropicals on eleven acres east of San Diego for fifteen years.