DURIANS IN SEASON

Durian Season starts again during peak time from June to September and all around Singapore, durian dominates the fruit stalls, each fighting for a slice of the market where the pent up demand for this king of fruits begins after a lull of low season. Most of the durians come from Malaysia and 1997 alone, Singapore imported about 17.3metric tons of fresh durians across from Malaysia. We are also the guilty ones who has helped with the increasing imports by enjoying them. In season we eat fresh and out of season, we had durian pengat, durian cakes and puffs.

Ah Loon Ah Teck
231 East Coast Road
Singapore 428887
Tel: 97514828





We had a degustation session with makan kakis organised by Dr Leslie Tay at Ah Loon and Ah Teck and it was free-flowing durian of different varieties Golden Phoenix, Black Pearl, Red Prawn... Each variety is different and every pause for the next variety, you literally need to wash your mouth with plain water so that you can absorb the real taste for the individual type and not have mixed signals for your tastebuds.

After the ieatishootipost Durian Degustation at Ah Loon & Ah Teck last Friday, my desire for durian was re-ignited as I passed by Ah Chai store at Bedok South Ave 3 Marketplace.

Ah Chai
Tel: 81379828
In Front of Boston Bakery
@ Bedok Blk 58 Hawker Centre


See the muscular arms from durian-opening gym instead



Ah Chai introduced me to a type of durian which he called "Ice Cream" known to taste like ice cream after you store it in the freezer. The price for this cultivar is also on the higher end of est $16/kg and someone has just returned to grab a few boxes. True to his words I grabbed two durians and stuffed them in the freezer and I had my durian "ice-cream" way as he says. Texture of the cream-coloured pulp is smooth and creamy as well as bitter and a slightly sweetish taste. Doubt that Haagen Dazs or Ben & Jerry ice-creams can offer any equals to this !!!



All durian cultivars in Malaysia are registered by the Malaysia Agriculture Department with a D-prefix and by now there will be several hundreds registered although those offered in the market are commonly known by interesting names like Mau San Wang, XO, Black Pearl and Golden Phoenix for eg. All the registered names starts with D... and hence you get durian clones and some of the superior cultivars like:

D24 (Sultan..............we started with D24 before we get to know better ones
D160 (Tekka)..............one of my favourites, very nice
D175 (Red Prawn or Hong Sia)
D? (Mao Shan Wang, msw or Mountain Cat).........another superlative
D? (Black Pearl)
D? (Golden Phoenix)
D? (XO)

Taste wise, the different varieties offers to the differing tastebuds with some sweetish, creamy, bitter, bitter sweet, small seeds, plenty of flesh, flattish taste and to me I include a "ethyl" aroma although to my distaste for this. I simply love very bitter creamy durians.



It's the buzzword for those in favour of durians but to those who abhorred it, even the loved ones has to avoid it or risked being discovered with that lingering strong flavour no matter how you rinse your mouth, it stays with you for a while.


DURIANS --- A THORNY LOVE HATE AFFAIRS