How to Choose and Open Durian

Summary of Post
Proven tips on choosing the meatiest and tastiest durian for your durian party, and how to easily open this thorny fruit without bloodshed! A perfect raw food, with a pungent aroma (some say odor or stink but what do they know :p) and exotic flavor unlike any other, it stirs the deepest, most primal instinct in one's self. I love this King of Fruits!

The creamy sweet fleshy meat of durian awaits thou who learns the art of opening the fruit

Choosing Durian
Taking orders
What little I know about the fine art of choosing durian was acquired from my Pa who is the go-to guy whenever a durian feast is to be held. His skill in picking out the best durians from the piles of durian at the stall is legendary.

Before he goes to the durian stall, we put in our orders/requests. It goes something like this:


Ma: I want the sweet one, watery one ok?
Pa: Can.
Grace: Pa, special order for me, some bitter ones, also I like the 'green' tasting ones, can?
Pa: Can.
Faith: Can get some drier ones, I don't like so wet. Creamy better.
Pa. Ok.
(and so forth)

Different colors, flavors and firmness of the durian fruit. Something for everyone!

At the durian stall / vendor

Piles of wonderfully stinky durian - please don't trip and fall!

All senses (except taste) come into play: smell, touch, sight, sound. Here's a step-by-step on choosing durian. Note: if you're in the US, you can skip this part because you'll mostly be getting only those frozen one-note Thai durians (read my opinion on them further down).

1. Touch & Sight: Pick up the durian with both hands. The pressure, if distributed evenly on your palms, won't hurt you. Get a firm grip! Give the fruit a careful once-over - if you see any holes on the outside, there will probably be a big fat larva feeding on the seed inside the fruit. That's not a bad thing, because it usually means less or no pesticides were applied in growing the durian (which is also why I tend to stick to 'kampung durian' instead of the expensive durian varieties, which tend to have pesticides applied to protect the high value fruit). Feel the weight - you want a heavy-ish fruit because there will be more of the yummy meat inside. However, durians can also be heavy if they contain large seeds. You don't want large seeds because that means less meat. How can you tell if the seeds are large? Read on next (under 'sound')...
2. Sound: Firmly shake the durian. If you hear muffled thuds - that's a giveaway for large seeds thumping against the inner shell of the fruit. If there's a lot of flesh surrounding the seed, there will be more muffle than thud. Sometimes you'll hear thuds on one side of the fruit, but none from the other side. This may mean one side of the fruit contains unripe meats (dry, hard), which is common for some varieties like D24. Avoid.
3. Smell: Pa's supersonic sense of smell, honed by over 40 years of practice, enables him to sniff out any flavor of durian that strikes our fancy. For mere mortals like  you and I, just put your nose to the end of the fruit (opposite the stem) and inhale. Sniff a few different fruit, to get an idea of the different aromas, then choose those that smell good to you. One way to learn quickly is sniff, pick, then open the fruit to eat it on the spot. However, once you have tasted, your sense of smell will be useless for picking out anymore durian. :)

Pa usually gets a basketful of durian, about 30 - 60 fruit, depending on the size of the party. Durian sellers end up disgruntled because after he's done, only the mediocre ones are left.

A few durian that I picked for myself, used in
tonight's demo, all from different trees because I like variety in flavor

Opening Durian
Elephants roll the thorny fruit around until it is covered with leaves, then step on the fruit to bust it open. Tigers apparently use their claws to rip it open, after which they go to town on the stuff inside. It doesn't take brute force to open durian, just a little know-how and a cleaver.

First, look closely at your durian. The thorns are not evenly spaced - see where the thorns are denser in a line or groove going from stem to end? There are usually five segments, thus five of these 'lines'.

Note the 'line' of closely spaced thorns running along the middle of the fruit,
from stem to end. That's where a durian will split open easily.

That's where the fruit would split open all by itself if given a few days. The fruit below is already starting to open naturally. By that time, it will be slightly fermented (not my preference). Note: If you get frozen Thai durian, just thaw out and get it open, don't wait or it'll go bad.

Today, we're going to help it along because we can't wait anymore. Tap the tip of your cleaver into your chosen line at the end of the fruit. Once you've gotten the tip of the cleaver in, you can kinda twist it, to part the segments easily. Then use your fingers to pry it open the rest of the way.

Tap cleaver exactly into that 'line' dividing the segments. Twist.

Use your fingers to pry open the durian.

Easy peasy - all ready to eat now!

How to Eat Durian
Really? Do you really need me to teach you how to eat durian? I didn't think so. Enjoy! Just make sure you don't eat the seed. And please don't waste any of that precious flesh. The seed should be very clean after you are done with it. :)

So today I had a lovely durian tasting all by myself. With durian season in full swing now, I got a good deal - seven fruit for RM10 (USD3). Much better than the USD10 I paid for deseeded frozen Thailand durian at the Strip District in Pittsburgh last year. By the way, if you're in the US, the durian you'll most like be able to get is Thai durian. It doesn't smell as strong (read, not as appetizing). While there's lots of meat/flesh, it's fibrous instead of creamy, and there's only one mild (read, bland) flavor. Durian grown in village orchards in Malaysia are exquisite, in my opinion, and each tree produces durians with a different tasty taste.

Look at all the leftovers (below) from my private durian feast! Durian freezes well, so now I have a stash in my freezer for whenever I feel like a rich, satisfying, nutritious and decadent dessert.

My durian stash - frozen durian keeps well

No Fresh Frozen Durian Anywhere?
Picture the following scenario: You unfortunately do not have access to the fresh stuff, or even the frozen version, and you really really have a durian craving that MUST be satisfied. Even a little. Freeze-dried durian chips may well be your answer. Actually, if you have never tried this stinky king of fruits, and are morbidly curious as to how they taste (having watched Andrew Zimmern's Bizzare Foods durian episode)... sampling freeze dried durian chips may help initiate you gently into such exotic pleasures. However, keep in mind that this version is very far in texture from the real thing, which is creamy and silky smooth custardy heaven.

I love to hear from you - are you a durian afficionado? Or hate it? How was your first experience eating durian? Please feel free to leave a comment at the end of this post!

Peace.