Talk about Durian

[goodsamaritan]

I'm finally gaining weight!
I think it is the durian everyday diet.
Durian makes me fat!
Good news... now I see I can feed my 8 year old thin boy durian every day to make him gain weight as well.

[Dwight]

Singapore has plenty of Durians. 

[ug]

I've found durian on rare occasions at the asian markets around where I like in the states...but they don't seem right...I was introduced to the fruit while living in Singapore and all I could remember was the smell of it...All the way down the road you would know if you were approaching a market that sold durian. It has a very characteristic and potent smell.

The ones I've found over here don't smell at all...I don't trust it.

[kurite]

I gave up finding durian here in the US. I saw this thread and went crazy wanting to try durian. I called tons of asian markets and I finally found soem frozen durian! I cant wait for it to thaw!

[MoonStalkeR]

I want to try durian and I see it in Asian produce markets occasionally. I can't detect its infamous odor either. Like ug, I am unsure if I should trust it.

[kurite]

Anyone know how long to let it defrost for?

[Sully]

I never tried durian. This video makes it sound disgusting


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VuXoX3Wt08&feature=channel

[Susan]

Durian smells and tastes lovely, for me like vanilla ice cream, if my body needs it and smells somehow persistent like rotten onions if my body doesn't need it.



Sometimes I like to eat the kernels:



In Germany we can order fresh Durian nearly the whole year, but sometimes only stored in plastic boxes. I' m happy, if I can get whole fruits, they taste still better.

[yon yonson]

susan: you eat the seeds?! i thought they were toxic or something.

sully: yeah, andrew zimmern can eat some weird stuff but for some reason durian is his nemesis. he just can't handle it. it's strange

[Susan]

@yon yonson: I don't care if something is said to be poisonous. I use my intinct, my smell and my taste and till know they never betrayed me. Of course it works only with raw, unprepared food.

[yon yonson]

cool, what do the seeds taste like? i ate durian fairly often while i was in thailand, but don't bother with buying it here. never thought to try the seeds though

[ForTheHunt]

@yon yonson: I don't care if something is said to be poisonous. I use my intinct, my smell and my taste and till know they never betrayed me. Of course it works only with raw, unprepared food.

The kernels are toxic

[B.Money]

Not to go off topic, but I wish we could start a thread or perhaps we already have them on whats toxic, whats not, and why we think so? I have been interested in eating cacao for its magnesium content but have been reading about its toxicity but how exactly do we classify something as toxic?

[KD]

I've eaten my share of durian, usually frozen but in-shell in Chinese markets. I've also eaten jakfruit right from the tree/ground.

another fruit which is somewhat in between druian and avocado in terms of excitement is breadfruit, but you have to basically let it rot for it to be very edible raw.

Even though these are all fatty fruits, durian and jakfruit especially are usually on the too sweet side for me these days.

I think durian is a delicacy for those who eat alot of sweet fruit, and avoid fatty things...as on its own of the rare combinations of both these in nature that is still mostly on the sweet side. For those like Zimmern, for one it probably isn't a match for the savory western treats he is used to eating and raw food people have less of these options so they go nuts over durian. Sure he eats some strange stuff but durian definitely has its own unique texture and flavor that just might not appeal to everyone. Some would also say that durian requires some kind of cleansed palate so that could factor in. He also had a hard time with aloe juice. I know the smell has never bothered me and others can't stand it.  Its entertaining, but for me the excitement factor or fatty allure of durian seems to have gone down on eating RAF as the way of the avocado.

I've eaten some seeds.

[KD]

Not to go off topic, but I wish we could start a thread or perhaps we already have them on whats toxic, whats not, and why we think so? I have been interested in eating cacao for its magnesium content but have been reading about its toxicity but how exactly do we classify something as toxic?

yeah, I would say that something that has known toxic compounds can be safely labeled 'toxic', but not everything that is 'toxic' should necessarily be avoided in all circumstances.

helpful?

[Iguana]

Everything can become more or less toxic if you eat too much of it. The toxicity is correlated to the dose: some substances may be useful and beneficial at a certain dose but become toxic if that dose is overtaken.

The appropriate dose varies from an individual to the other and also according to the actual state of that individual. Moreover, some stuff can be a staple food for an animal specie while being a poison for another specie.

I like to bite into durian seeds and sometimes I eat a little bit of it. Just like Susan.

[Susan]

cool, what do the seeds taste like? i ate durian fairly often while i was in thailand, but don't bother with buying it here. never thought to try the seeds though

They taste nutty.

[Sully]

sully: yeah, andrew zimmern can eat some weird stuff but for some reason durian is his nemesis. he just can't handle it. it's strange

Yeah, he actually seems to prefer animal foods over many odd plant foods.

I am curious if I would like durian.

[Iguana]

Not to go off topic, but I wish we could start a thread or perhaps we already have them on whats toxic, whats not, and why we think so? I have been interested in eating cacao for its magnesium content but have been reading about its toxicity but how exactly do we classify something as toxic?

 Done here!

[PaleoPhil]

Aha, so Andrew Zimmern, the guy who likes almost everything, doesn't like durian. I searched Youtube and found a bunch of other people who didn't like durian the first time they tried it either. They tend to say it tastes like onions, just like Andrew. I had wondered why I've never even seen durian for sale despite folks here and at the raw vegan/fruitarian forums saying it was so great and this could explain it. Durian is apparently an acquired taste and smell for many people who aren't used to eating it, so it's probably hard to get a market going for it initially if there aren't a lot of people living in the area who grew up with it, like in California.

I'll definitely try it if I ever see it. I'm curious to find out whether eating raw Paleo will adjust my taste buds somehow so that it tastes very good to me the first time. The only problem is, a single durian probably contains too much fruit for me to eat in a single day without developing negative symptoms. Can the fruit be stored for several days to a week or so after it's opened?

[ys]

Can the fruit be stored for several days to a week or so after it's opened?

i freeze the leftovers, it comes to US from Thailand already frozen.

[Iguana]

To find durians, Phil, you have to go to Chinatown, or rather order it from GeneFit Nutrition to insure quality. Frozen ones are not as good – I think it’s better to avoid anything frozen anyway. Sure, you can open one side of a whole fruit, eat some and keep the rest in the fridge. They have 4 or 5 compartments and you can open one while the others remain closed. You can also take the meat pieces out of the shell and keep it on a plate in your fridge, a procedure recommended when the shell begins to rot.

Ripe durians slit a little bit by themselves at the bottom or sometimes at the top when they are really ripe; you can then open it without a knife just by inserting a finger in the gap and pushing along the splitting line.

Thais systematically open them with a machete. I don’t like this procedure and prefer to wait  until they start to slit, so I’m sure it’s ripe.

Durian is very nourishing and people on overload of fat and other nutrients usually don’t like it, being repelled by the smell. Others are attracted by their smell and they enjoy it. 

[Haai]

@ Iguana
Have you ordered from that site yourself? I'm just wondering if they ship to Europe aswell as the US.
When they say meat only i guess that includes the seeds?

I went to Malaysia and Singapore and Brunei almost a year ago now and ate a lot of Durian, i could eat like 10 in a day. It's my favourite fruit but I havn't had any since I left SE Asia. I miss it loads!

[Haai]

In Germany we can order fresh Durian nearly the whole year, but sometimes only stored in plastic boxes. I' m happy, if I can get whole fruits, they taste still better.

Where do you order your Durian from? I live in the netherlands so if they can deliver to germany then they should be able to deliver to NL too I guess/hope...

[Iguana]

Haai, you can order durian from Orkos. I always order it from them, especially when they have a special offer - several time a year. They have whole fruits or meat and seeds only in punnets, which is more advantageous. Great quality.