Feature Food: DURIAN
The most controversial of delicacies has to be the durian. It's either the most delicious substance on earth or the worst or both. Durians are the size of honeydew melons, yellowish green or brown and armed with spines.
The woody husk is sometimes difficult to open. Inside are five masses of cream-coloured pulp. The pulp is soft and custardy, without juice. It smells just awful [I didn't notice this feature].
The most famous description of the durian is that of the biologist Wallace in his book The Malay Archipilago.
"When brought into the house the smell is often so offensive that some persons can never bear to taste it. This was my own case when I first tried it in Malacca, but in Borneo I found a ripe fruit on the ground, and, eating it out of doors, I at once became a confirmed Durian eater…its consistence and flavor are indescribable. A rich butter-like custard highly flavored with almonds gives the best general idea of it, but intermingled with it come wafts of flavor that call to mind cream-cheese, onion sauce, brown sherry, and other incongruities. Then there is a rich glutinous smoothness in the pulp which nothing else possesses, but which adds to its delicacy. It is neither acid, nor sweet, nor juicy, yet one feels the want of none of these qualities, for it is perfect as it is. In fact to eat Durians is a new sensation, worth a voyage to the East to experience [or your local Asian market at least!]… It would not, perhaps, be correct to say that the Durian is the best of all fruits, because it cannot supply the place of the subacid, juicy kinds…but as producing a food of the most exquisite flavor it is unsurpassed."
Durians are so popular in Asia that they figure in a wide range of ancillary products. When the pulp is frozen and eaten half thawed, it is said to be something like ice cream. Real ice cream flavoured with durian is popular, too. Fresh durians are seasonally found in some Chinese and Thai markets in North America.
Taken from: "The Ultimate" by William Poundstone
- Value: (per 100 gram of the edible part)
- Water - 64.990 gram
- Energy - 147 kcal
- Energy - 615 kj
- Protein - 1.47 gram
- Total lipid (fat) - 5.33 gram
- Carbohydrate, by difference - 27.09 gram
- Fiber, total dietary - 3.8 gram
- Minerals
- Calcium, Ca - 6 mg
- Iron, Fe - 0.430 mg
- Magnesium, Mg - 30 mg
- Phosphorus, P - 38 mg
- Potassium, K - 436 mg
- Sodium, Na - 1 mg
- Zinc, Zn - 0.28 mg
- Copper, Cu - 0.207 mg
- Manganese, Mn - 0.324 mg
- Vitamins
- Vitamin C, ascorbic acid - 19.7 mg
- Thiamin - 0.374 mg
- Riboflavin - 0.2 mg
- Niacin - 1.074 mg
- Pantothenic acid - 0.23 mg
- Vitamin B-6 - 0.316 mg
- Vitamin A, IU - 45.000 IU
- Vitamin A, RE - 5.000 mcg
Source: US Department of Agriculture
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