Quote:
Originally Posted by chong
Growing Durian in So. Cal. and actually producing fruit for market is awesome, but pretty surprising. According to the Echonet website, "Durian is extremely cold sensitive and poorly adapted to Florida soil." But then according to TopTropicals,they have a variety, "The red and yellow-fleshed fruits are Durio graveolans, more tolerant of S. Florida conditions and taste like peanut butter." I have never seen a "red and yellow fleshed" Durian, much less a Durian that tastes
like peanut butter. And as warm as it gets in the Philippines, though they may grow everywhere there, they do not thrive well in the areas north of Mindanao, the southern most region of the country.
|
Chong,
Durio graveolans is a wild species which is not considered palatable by the locals here. It has a much thinner pulp and is not overly sweet nor does it have the bitter tang which the locals prefer. It does have a colorful pulp but it can't beat the
Sukang,
Durio oxleyanus, from Sabah which grows to 130+ft and has a
dark red pulp. Another
teaser, cos the taste is no where as intense as its color. Also thin pulped. When I get a pix from my friend, I will post it.
Finally there is the
Durio testudinarum, or Durian Kura (tortoise) as the fruits are found at the
base and buttress of the tree. This is a smaller tree at about 80ft in height. There are about 30 species of wild durians in this region and most of them have a high chlorophyll taste. When I am with the Orang Asli during the wild durian's fruiting season they will treat me with them. Being gracious, I will say it's nice and it will only result in them giving me till I go green. Species with the fancy colors are used for hybridizing with the cultivars and they cost more because of the novelty.
Currently there are too many cultivars to name and the most popular staple is the
D24 which has a few seeds with a very thick and sweet creamy pulp infused with a
very bitter taste. Kind of like a very bitter white choc! This is what the M'sians love. We do not like the Thai durians as they are firm and taste like frozen butter cream. The Thais can't stand the pungency of our durians and they say M'sians eat rotten durians!
About the sarong, durians and the Malays... It goes like this, when the durians come, if they don't own any trees, the Malays will pawn their sarong to buy it...
I have mentioned this before, it is believed that if a tiger is found eating the durian of a particular tree, it has to be the best tasting tree in that area. It's a fact that tigers here like durians, so do most of our cats and dogs.