Asia’s secret weapon

Press, 12 October 1982, Page 17

Asia’s secret weapon

From

RORY NEWSON

in Bangkok

It smells like a sewer, looks like a lethal weapon, and has a taste which defies description. Perhaps the English author. Anthony Burgess. described it best, likening the sensation to eating “strawberry blancmange in a lavatory."

The object in question could only be the durian — South-East Asia's unique delicacy and the region's answer to the total sensual experience. Oval-shaped and covered in tough, sharp spines, the durian is in fact a fruit about the size of a person's head. ■At first glance it has a threatening appearance but the durian is a gastronomic delight of the first order in South-East Asia.

When the tough rind is split open, up to 12 large seeds are revealed, each encased in a yellow pulp. This pulp may be devoured straight off the seed, used to flavour ice-cream, relish and cakes or preserved in a sugar mixture for later consumption. The stones are also prized—boiled, .fried, or roasted.

When the season is in full swing, durians are keenly sought after in Papua New Guinea, across to southern India, and from the tip of Malaysia right up into Burma.

Makeshift stalls offering the fruit sprout as quickly on the crowded pavements of Bangkok as they appear along the rugged, jungle highways of Sumatra. One of the intriguing sights

of the region is watching the prospective buyers comparing. testing, and discussing the merits of one fruit against another. Yet to the outsider such seasonal durian fever is hard to fathom. For along with its imposing appearance the fruit possesses an unnerving taste and equally imposing offensive stench.

Attempts to describe its effect on the palate range from over-ripe camembert mixed with onions to liquid soap and radishes. The putrid odour of the fruit nearly dominates the taste. You can smell a durian. opened or otherwise, long before vou set eves on it.

It cannot be denied, however. the durian is a fruit set apart. It holds the honour of being the only fruit to be eaten by tigers and is also credited with aphrodisiac qualities. One Indonesian saying crudely translates: "When the durians come down, the sarungs (Asian counterpart to the kilt) go up." Falling from trees which grow’ up to 45 metres tall, it is perhaps not suprising that the durian has even claimed human lives.

For many foreigners the durian fruit is a once-only experience but durian-lovers say the affection grows with each mouthful.

One thing is certain: on being presented with a durian for the first time it is hard to resist the challenge of the “King of Fruits."