There are 2 broad categories of durian preferences as far as I know. They are the Thai and Malaysian type of durians.
Thai durians tend to be sweet and very large (Montong, Chanee) with small seeds. They are not pungent and the meat is light and tender with a firm coating as in the montong variety. There is a strong preference for eating durian with sticky rice in Thailand.
The Malaysian varieties are more pungent and they are appreciated for their strong smell as well as unique taste from very sweet to very bitter. Some of the Malaysian varieties are D24, D13, Mao Sang Wang, Sultan Durian, Red Prawn etc. In between extremes of sweetness and bitterness there is a whole spectrum of combined taste and texture.
Mao Sang Wang - ST Pictures
Red Prawn - ST Pictures
For the uninitiated, the Malaysian durian would smell and tatse repulsive. Even for a Thai who has been eating Thai durians, would find the smell overpowering. My friend’s wife, who is a Thai, once remarked that why do Singaporeans and Malaysians have to eat rotten durians.
While smell, taste and texture are highly subjective and personal, the general consensus among hard core durian eaters of Malaysian durians would be:
- Smell - Strong smell
- Taste - Bitter sweet
- Texture - thick, very dense and almost having a “choking” sensation while swallowing the fruit.
I would like to conclude that there are other preferences which I may not know of as durians can be found in almost all of the SEA countries (Myanmar, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia etc).
My advise to foreigners who really want to appreciate durians is to go for the Thai (as an entry level experience) variety and slowly “graduate” to the Malaysian variety.
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