A nasty little number?
The Durian: the worlds smelliest fruit
This spiky fruit has been recognized for over 600 years, and guess what it smells like it's rotted than long too.
This far from appetizing looking fruit has a formidable thorny husk and grows between 12 x 6 inches and weighing a whopping 2-7lbs . The Durian is known as the ‘King of fruits’ and has a smell that evokes reactions from appreciation to total disgust. I’m in the latter category. Quite simply it smells of raw sewerage and I’m not joking!
It hails from Southeast Asia and the foul odor has led it to be banned in many public places, such as hotels and the public transport systems, as the stench from this prickly critter will linger for days and is more than offensive.
The name Durian is from the Malay word ‘Duri’ meaning thorn and tastes rather like a rich almond/garlic flavored custard. Unlike many other fruits you don’t have to wait for it to become fully ripe as the flesh can be used at various stages of maturing. You can have durian cakes, jams, drinks and now even durian wine is in the process of being made.
Since the flesh of this foul fruit, the aril, only accounts for about 15-30 percent of the entire mass, I have to ask what happens to the husk? Paper, they make paper. Paper bags, scrap books and gift wrap, slightly on the rough side in texture, just like the fruit, but heck it saves some trees.
Health benefits for this ugly number include, easing a cough, warming the body and it’s full of antioxidants. Just one serving of this fruit of approximately 240 grams covers about 20 percent of your recommended daily carbohydrate intake. Durian is also a very high source of natural fiber, so out with the ‘Senokot’ and in with the durian!
Apparently there is ‘good’ fat and ‘bad’ fat and durian contains the ‘good’ stuff. A typical single serving has about 350 calories and 13 grams of said ‘good’ fat and loaded with vitamin C, which we all know aids fighting off colds and lowering cholesterol. I might even think about changing my ‘hot toddy’ from a flu power mixed with scotch , lemons and honey to no flu power just a durian blend when the next bout of flu hits! The one benefit I love the most about this fruit is that it contains a natural substance called tryptophan which is nature’s own sleeping pill, ahhh bliss.
So in a nut shell, pardon the pun, this nasty little number may not be quite so nasty after all. Cakes, jams, wine and sleep, what more can I possibly want other than a clothes peg for my nose!
