Today was a wonderful encounter with a brand new fruit: durian. I've heard about these for years; a gigantic, mace shaped tropical fruit with apparently a great taste and awful smell. In case you're unfamiliar, here it is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durian
I bought some pre-cut into some segments and plastic wrapped from a local T&T Market ( a kind of Chinese supermarket chain ). I must give kudos to whoever packaged it up as it did not smell in that state.
Getting home and trying my first segment, I was first struck by a banana-guava scent, then overwhelmed by the smell of roasted garlic. "Okay, here goes nothing," I thought biting into it.
The first taste was a bit challenging, I will say. The texture is very pleasing - sort of like gelato left to warm up some, mixed with a pasty banana-cherimoya-mango type of creaminess. The taste is an ongoing battle between what seems like a host of different fruits ( banana, guava, overripe pear, and cherimoya come to mind, though it's very close to white sapote if you've had that, with an odd hint of pineapple occasionally ) and different alliums ( roasted garlic, carmelized onions, perhaps a touch of raw leek ), and some weird background smells and flavors ( coffee, sherry, rubber, maybe even skunk? ). It is also very intensely sweet. It's repulsive and appealing simultaneously, like someone went through a kitchen and literally decided to add a touch of everything.
I didn't know what to make of my first one, as descriptions had prepared me more for a stinky cheese type of fruit ( I was thinking pie angloys papaya, the garlic was an abrupt surprise ), but once I tried to think of it as a sweet savory dish ( it's like alive, fruity hummus! ) rather than a sweet with a bad savory clash ( it's like ice cream with raw onion! ) I enjoyed it. I've now eaten the other segments I bought, both because I enjoyed it a little more each bite ( though still feel a little ill at ease with it ), and because it stunk up the fridge something chronic it was either eat it now or have everything ELSE taste of durian.
For those who've tried it - what's your take?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durian
I bought some pre-cut into some segments and plastic wrapped from a local T&T Market ( a kind of Chinese supermarket chain ). I must give kudos to whoever packaged it up as it did not smell in that state.
Getting home and trying my first segment, I was first struck by a banana-guava scent, then overwhelmed by the smell of roasted garlic. "Okay, here goes nothing," I thought biting into it.
The first taste was a bit challenging, I will say. The texture is very pleasing - sort of like gelato left to warm up some, mixed with a pasty banana-cherimoya-mango type of creaminess. The taste is an ongoing battle between what seems like a host of different fruits ( banana, guava, overripe pear, and cherimoya come to mind, though it's very close to white sapote if you've had that, with an odd hint of pineapple occasionally ) and different alliums ( roasted garlic, carmelized onions, perhaps a touch of raw leek ), and some weird background smells and flavors ( coffee, sherry, rubber, maybe even skunk? ). It is also very intensely sweet. It's repulsive and appealing simultaneously, like someone went through a kitchen and literally decided to add a touch of everything.
I didn't know what to make of my first one, as descriptions had prepared me more for a stinky cheese type of fruit ( I was thinking pie angloys papaya, the garlic was an abrupt surprise ), but once I tried to think of it as a sweet savory dish ( it's like alive, fruity hummus! ) rather than a sweet with a bad savory clash ( it's like ice cream with raw onion! ) I enjoyed it. I've now eaten the other segments I bought, both because I enjoyed it a little more each bite ( though still feel a little ill at ease with it ), and because it stunk up the fridge something chronic it was either eat it now or have everything ELSE taste of durian.
For those who've tried it - what's your take?
), but I'll say the smell of my particular one did not remind me of number two. Though, there is one sort of indirect link: it smells a lot like the spice asafoetida, with that similar onions-from-hell air to it.
