What is a Durian?
Durian is a fruit: a big, green thorny fruit. It is considered "King of the Fruit" throughout the region of South East Asia. Basically, we are eating the pulp of the seed. Its strong smell will scare away many people -- some would rather die than to smell the STINK of a Durian. But to those who love it, they can eat Durian for their breakfast, lunch and dinner!

The Durian tree
The Durian tree is a tall tree towering as high as 40m in the jungle rainforest or in semi-orchard. Seed trees may take 8-10 years to bear fruit. A grafted durian tree assumes a christmas tree habit and grows to 15 - 20m tall. The fruit is green to brown in color, pendulous, round to oblong in shape and is completely covered with strong sharp thorns. It is a capsule which splits into five parts when ripe and each segment contains brown seeds covered with thick, firm, creamy, yellow pulp with an overpowering aroma. The durian is native to Malaysia and Indonesia. In Malaysia about 50% of the total production is from the Johore and Perak states.

Durian: King of Fruits – What are Durians?
One of the things I’m so grateful for is discovering and trying out new fruits and vegetables. The raw diet has really opened my eyes to the variety and bounty of fruits out there.

This post will focus on one of my favorite fruits in the world. However, a word of caution: not everyone likes Durian. In fact, durian tends to cause a complete polarity between those who love ’em and those who hate ’em.

WHERE TO BUY DURIAN?
If you’re not in South East Asia or another location that grows durians, you should check out Asian markets like Chinatown. Major cities like New York City, Toronto, and Montreal have them in the Chinatown areas.

For places that don’t have concentrated Asian communities, look for big Chinese supermarkets. These may be in a more residential area, depending on the location.