What I can say is that this is time of the year in Cambodia where you see durian stall on the street, everywhere. There are several species growing here. The special one is from Kompot - a province where it is very famous for pepper. The soil is just very good for various kind of plants, including durian, fruits and especially, pepper. Other areas are also famous for its durian, including Koh Kong province, Kompong Cham province and Samlot in Battambang province.
There are various kinds of durian, you can find a few such as Mann-thong and Ouv-khak. Some people love to eat when the fruit is soft but I prefer the one with milky color and taste as shown below:
Hello @Sophia_Cambodia and thank you for sharing your post with the Community.
How can you tell if a durian is gone bad? I read somewhere that you can understand from the smell. If a durian has an intense smell, how can you understand whether it is bad intense of good intense?
Than you @VasT for your comment. It is a bit tricky, especially for you are not so accustomed with this kind of fruit. You are right! The intense smell can tell you it is overripe. The mild smell means they are just getting ripe, the milky-meat durian has a very mild smell. If you buy the one that has no smell yet, keep it few days till you smell, but very mild one. I don’t think it is easy you peel it yourself. You can ask the seller to peel it already for you and eat them immediately. If you bring back to the hotel, some countries like Thailand or Malaysia will fine you, like 50$ because the smell won’t go anywhere!
@VasT and you should bear in mind that the best and fresh season of durian is from late April - Early June. Besides, they are not organic or natural at all. Right now, it is time to have it
@anazizullah thank you for your comment. If you happen to be in Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia right now. You should taste it. For a starter, I would recommend the milky-meat since it is not too soft nor too much smell. It is not cheap though, a kilo of durian inside the skin costs around 5-7$ and one durian can be 2-7kgs.
Right, ice-cream of durian taste is great I love them too. Perhaps, for starters it is better that way but for us, durian is another fruit. We are okay with the smell, no big deal!
It is not organic if you see durian along the way in months that is not its season. The fresh and organic season of durian is late April-Early June only.
@anazizullah there are two kinds of ice-cream made from durian. First, the ice-cream itself made from durian and second, the icecream that they add durian outside. Have a look at these photos.
@Emmik20 you should taste it. It cannot say whether you cannot eat it. It depends on people. Some people that never ate before eat just like us or not like it at all. Just keep in mind to eat the fresh one at the right season, with right texture or try first with ice-cream just like @VasT mentioned to see whether you like them.
The fruit looks great @Sophia_Cambodia ! A very descriptive and nicely presented. I will surely try if I happened to be there during the season.
Is there anyway it could be preserved in any sort of form? Like for example, mango in India, can be preserved in the form of pulp. So we can taste off season as well.
Hi @AjitThite thank you for your comment. I believe we can do it. However, in Cambodia, durian is very limited, for local consume - not for export. What I mean is they are often sold out at the season. You might find them in different forms such as ice-cream. I believe Thailand or Malaysia, they grow durian as for trade and however, you can find durian pulp at the Asian market.
When I was in New Zealand, I saw frozen durian from Vietnam. In Cambodia, they keep the durian in the fridge but we cannot eat them raw. We make it into dessert only or as ice-cream.
@anazizullah you are welcome… you can find other sweets made from durian too, such as jam, candy, bun, durian smoothie, durian cake for birthday, pizza… but since this season you can enjoy the fresh one, I bet you go for a fresh one :). Some people do not eat much because it makes you get high temperature :). Read more here about how durian can be made: http://durianinfo.blogspot.com/p/more-delicious-ways-to-eat-durian.html
