The DU Lounge
Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsHas anyone here ever eaten a fruit called Durian?
I'm catching up on my reading, and I came across a paper titled thus: Food Waste Durian Rind-Derived Cellulose Organohydrogels: Toward Anti-Freezing and Antimicrobial Wound Dressing (Xi Cui, Jaslyn Lee, Kuan Rei Ng, and Wei Ning Chen, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering 2021 9 (3), 1304-1312).
It contains this text:
Famous all over the world?
Serious problem to the environment?
Never heard of Durian...
Anyone?
ret5hd
(20,491 posts)like absolute rotten zombie death puke...but tastes good. Many hotels (where it grows) forbid bringing the fruit inside.
TheBlackAdder
(28,189 posts).
I've had them a couple of times. They're OK, but just freakin' huge.
.
soothsayer
(38,601 posts)Supposedly tastes good.
Not 100% sure you can get it in the US. Think the season is summer.
Bev54
(10,051 posts)electric_blue68
(14,891 posts)I was surprised.
soothsayer
(38,601 posts)Plenty of Asian markets in my area.
Summertime?
electric_blue68
(14,891 posts)Generic Brad
(14,274 posts)And it tastes like road tar. In contrast, my daughter loves the smell and taste. Ironically, I like cilantro and she says that tastes like soap to her.
Its like the blue dress/white dress of fruit.
babylonsister
(171,059 posts)They're popular in Indonesia and all over SE Asia. I never tried it because I heard they smell like old sweat-soaked sneakers.
Some people regard the durian as having a pleasantly sweet fragrance, whereas others find the aroma overpowering with an unpleasant odour. The smell evokes reactions from deep appreciation to intense disgust, and has been described variously as rotten onions, turpentine, and raw sewage. The persistence of its odour, which may linger for several days, led certain hotels and public transportation services in Southeast Asia to ban the fruit.
brush
(53,776 posts)I've even heard it said that some men like as it reminds them of having oral with...not that there's any thing wrong with that.
Let's just say it's an acquired taste.
Bev54
(10,051 posts)Bev54
(10,051 posts)It is very difficult to get by the smell of it. We actually had to move hotels while in Malaysia because the smell was so bad, we could not sleep. We found a hotel that did not allow Durian. I found the taste was ok but nothing worth going through the smell.
NRaleighLiberal
(60,014 posts)I am not a "eat this horrible food" contest type person - I eat for enjoyment!
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,683 posts)by food writer Richard Sterling as "turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock. It can be smelled from yards away." Anthony Bourdain once said once said of the fruit: "Your breath will smell as if youd been French-kissing your dead grandmother."
happybird
(4,606 posts)A timely coincidence, it was just posted a few hours ago.
Its an entertaining channel. A bunch of Irish people try different food items, beverages, and alcohol from around the world and comment on it.
electric_blue68
(14,891 posts)😂😂😂
I just watched it.
Oh those poor brave people!
tblue37
(65,340 posts)electric_blue68
(14,891 posts)The National Geographic!
One person described it as "eating the most wonderful dessert in the middle of a garbage dump".
They told stories about people trying hide it in the heir hotel room, or despite multiple wrappings a person was thrown off their plane flight for sneaking one on board.
sweetloukillbot
(11,010 posts)I haven't summoned the nerve to try it yet.
NNadir
(33,516 posts)...I synthesized some selenophenols, which leached right through my gloves giving my hands a disgusting odor that was impossible to remove, even with oxidants like bleach.
My future wife agreed to hang with me anyway, so I guess she, if not me, can get through a bad smell and still like someone.
I'm glad, however, that I never heard of Durian until now, and understand entirely why this is so. One hopes that wound healing hydrogels made from the stuff aren't like selenophenols, leading one to consider whether it is better to bleed to death or become massively infected or smell like...well...many of you told me.
Thanks again.
yellowdogintexas
(22,252 posts)electric_blue68
(14,891 posts)The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,683 posts)electric_blue68
(14,891 posts)The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,683 posts)yellowdogintexas
(22,252 posts)tblue37
(65,340 posts)DFW
(54,370 posts)They're as prevalent in Singapore at roadside fruit stands as peaches in Georgia.
They have an odor that is so nauseous that it made me ill. The vendors assured me that the taste was far better than the stinky smell, but I couldn't bring myself to put it in my mouth. Besides, the (supposedly) edible pods looked like giant lima beans, and I HATE lima beans.