durians

[Guest guest]

hey gang,

thanks for all the durian tips. sounds like the quality varies which doesn't surprise me since no other fruit has consistantantly 'good' quality.

 

i can get durian here in b'ham but it's $2 a pound (quality varies also). also, shari, in everett has found an asian market there with good durian prices. gosh... with all the recent interest in durian, might be worth looking into investing in durian stock.

 

looking forward to zita's potluck,

norm )~

 

"......Time is never wasted, listening to the trees, watchingbutterflies or enjoying the fragrance of wild flowers........"

[Guest guest]

Lots o' discussion on this one! :-) We raw vegans sure love our

tropical fruits, no? Durian's sure a special case in point.

 

Non-organicness: Yep, I also remember Loren " RAWckin' " Lockman ;-),

in his last visit here, in response to a question, saying, " Durians

are generally sprayed. " I also recall Norm posting a message on this

board about the issue, although I didn't read through the whole

thing. That DDT in Thailand point, where most (all?) the durian

available around here comes from--not so appetizing. :-) Sadly, a

burst of a raw vegan bubble dear to us all.

 

It's partly why I haven't been eating much durian of late. I seem to

go through phases where I'll eat quite a bit for a while, then an

equal or greater period where it won't interest me.

 

I've eaten literally probably between 50-100 durians in my lifetime,

all over the past 3 years (my rawdom). It hasn't happened a whole

lot, but with a number of them, I have noticed a quite pungent

metallic bitterish taste, particularly toward one of the ends of the

fruit (forget which end). This taste, when it's been there, has been

more detectible and more common as a %age of the class, in the

fresh/never-frozen as compared with the frozen. Has anyone else

experienced this? I know Anrayleo (one of our raw friends) has too.

 

Fresh/frozen: I've had several ones that I knew were fresh/never

frozen, almost exclusively when passing through Vancouver, BC. When

you've eaten both fresh and frozen (whether thawed immediately

beforehand, or long beforehand), there's no doubt there's a

significant, noticeable difference, mainly in texture, but flavor

also. Fresh is better. :-) Although the best frozen ones are easily

lots better (taste-experience-wise) than the worst fresh ones. If

someone were to present me with durian that had at one point been

frozen, and other durian flesh that had never been frozen, not

telling me which was which, I would bet a large sum that, by tasting

each, my determination would be correct as to which was the fresh and

which the at-some-point-in-its-existence frozen.

 

" Best " durian: Interesting that more than one source indicates

Cambodia. (They border with Thailand; Vietnam and

Thailand " sandwich " Cambodia.) Up til now, I thought Malaysian

durian was the best. Paul " Durian King " Nison thinks so and said so

anyway. Can't wait to taste for myself! :-)

 

Enjoy your durian y'all, just try and make it organic! :-)

[Guest guest]

I've also heard that durians are sprayed.

 

I've also heard that the best durians are Malaysian. I was in line at

an Asian market with some durians. The man in front of me had a

durian also. We struck up conversation. He seemed to have some Asian

ancestry and apparently did a lot of travelling. He said, while the

best durians come from Malaysia, Thailand is the big exporter of

durians. The best ones aren't exported.

 

I found a method for overnight defrosting of frozen durians. I would

put the durian in front of a fan. By morning it was ready to eat. The

problem was, as I had the durian and fan in my room, I would wake up

with a faint headache and a bit light-headed. Seems there is

something in/on the durian, whether natural or unnatural, that my

body does not like. Made me wonder about pesticides, etc. Also, after

eating durian, I feel a bit sluggish and even drowsy. On my last trip

to Vancouver, BC I finally got to try some fresh durian. It was quite

good, but I have had sweeter frozen ones, so I did not notice a

significant difference. I figured since it was fresh I would feel

better after eating it as compared to frozen. Eric has probably had a

lot more raw ones and can offer a better comparison. After eating, we

went to the Taste of Health. During a lecture by Dr. Neal Barnard, I

began getting quite drowsy (NOT due to the lexture!) It's a sign that

my body does not thrive on durian. I haven't had one since (though

may have tasted one). I have been having a hankering for one

recently. I may eat it again and just won't operate any heavy

equipment!

 

Jeff

[Guest guest]

I followed the link that Norm provided a few months back and I don't remember

the details but it was about some pilot programs to use less pesticides that

are starting up in places where durian is grown. I gathered from this that

they are normally heavily sprayed. This probably accounts for your headache,

Jeff. If it makes you sleepy, that's a sure sign that your body is having to

devote lots of energy to digestion. It's frozen AND it's fatty, two strikes

against it for easy digestion. I do sometimes get that feeling, but it

depends on lots of different factors like whether I've over-eaten nuts

recently or how good the durian is (the sweeter ones are probably riper and

easier to digest). I had some of those raw durians from Vancouver last

summer and I can tell you I was thoroughly unimpressed. Of the 6 that I

bought, only one was what I would call good. I didn't even eat them all,

after driving all that way just to get them! The best raw durians I had last

summer were at Uwajimaya, at $7 per pound. Ouch. After eating raw durian, I

definitely don't get that tired/sluggish feeling no matter what I've been

eating recently.

Nora

 

Jeff Rogers wrote:

 

> I've also heard that durians are sprayed.

>

> I've also heard that the best durians are Malaysian. I was in line at

> an Asian market with some durians. The man in front of me had a

> durian also. We struck up conversation. He seemed to have some Asian

> ancestry and apparently did a lot of travelling. He said, while the

> best durians come from Malaysia, Thailand is the big exporter of

> durians. The best ones aren't exported.

>

> I found a method for overnight defrosting of frozen durians. I would

> put the durian in front of a fan. By morning it was ready to eat. The

> problem was, as I had the durian and fan in my room, I would wake up

> with a faint headache and a bit light-headed. Seems there is

> something in/on the durian, whether natural or unnatural, that my

> body does not like. Made me wonder about pesticides, etc. Also, after

> eating durian, I feel a bit sluggish and even drowsy. On my last trip

> to Vancouver, BC I finally got to try some fresh durian. It was quite

> good, but I have had sweeter frozen ones, so I did not notice a

> significant difference. I figured since it was fresh I would feel

> better after eating it as compared to frozen. Eric has probably had a

> lot more raw ones and can offer a better comparison. After eating, we

> went to the Taste of Health. During a lecture by Dr. Neal Barnard, I

> began getting quite drowsy (NOT due to the lexture!) It's a sign that

> my body does not thrive on durian. I haven't had one since (though

> may have tasted one). I have been having a hankering for one

> recently. I may eat it again and just won't operate any heavy

> equipment!

>

> Jeff

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 6/1/2005 3:26:31 P.M. Central Standard Time,

azscott72 writes:

 

Does anyone have a reciepe for durian pudding whole foods sells durian now I

would like to make it?

 

 

 

 

I " ve been looking for you, but haven't come across one yet Shazzie (who

says it is her favorite food) has lots of other pudding recipes, but not one

for durian pudding.

 

 

I did find this article on raw times about durians that is very interesting,

and might prove helpful in choosing one and extracting the edible part, if

you've never had one before. _http://www.rawtimes.com/r-tatiana.html#durian_

(http://www.rawtimes.com/r-tatiana.html#durian)

 

xoxo,

Denise

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Thanks for checking on the durian for me, please let me know if you find

anything about puddings.

 

thanks.

scott c.