When it comes to durians, Mao Shan Wang may rule the day, but true appreciation requires connoisseurs to dig deeper.
When it comes to durians, Mao Shan Wang may rule the day, but true appreciation requires connoisseurs to dig deeper.
LIKE
any other highly seasonal, finicky to produce, potentially spectacular gourmet ingredient, durians inspire intense devotion. This year, while upstarts like the unctuously fruity Black Thorn nip at its heels, Mao Shan Wang (MSW) remains king in Singapore and much of Malaysia. Durian sellers tell tales of farmers planting ever more MSW to meet demand from local fans, plus increasing numbers of consumers from China.
It’s easy to understand MSW’s appeal. Its custardy, luscious, in-your-face swagger hits all the right notes hard and fast, like loud orchestral fanfare. Supping solely on any one kind of durian, however, is like exclusively drinking Bordeaux: However rewarding, it leaves countless other worlds unexplored and, vitally, it discourages growers from exploring them too. A pity, because durian, just like wine, is as multifaceted, fierce and elegant an expression of terroir as any connoisseur could wish for.
“I used to sell durians,” says Chang Teik Seng, aka Durian Seng, of Penang’s famous Bao Sheng farm (www.durian.com.my). “Now I sell flavour.” He tells of his “enlightenment” in 2009, when he began turning his 12ha plantation organic, upon realising how natural husbandry could increase his trees’ health and longevity. On his farm, pruned fruits rot into potassiumrich compost, friendly ants see off insect pests, and variables like worm activity and sun exposure are carefully monitored.
This is because, as in humans, age begets character. Older trees yield especially fine and complex-flavoured fruit, as Durian Seng expounds during his durian degustations. At these, diners taste what the trees deign to drop over half a day. On my visit, these included a Lipan (known as Centipede, too) from a 60-year-old tree, florally perfumed and fondant-silky; a gourd-shaped Hor Lor, an iconic Penang variety, with cacao and muscovado notes and an umami back-taste; and an Ang Hae (red prawn), redolent of chardonnay and cantaloupe.
01 DURIAN DEGUSTATION
A creamy, thick-fleshed D15 at Green Acres, a farm on Penang Island.
02 SLOW FOOD ADVOCATE
Eric Chong of Green Acres examines kampung durians that have just fallen.
TERROIR, BRANDS AND THORNY ISSUES
Most “branded” durian cultivars such as MSW and D24 are propagated by grafting clones onto root stock, to ensure consistent flavour traits. Connoisseurs know, however, that fishing off the mainstream often nets untold treasures. For example, old durian plantations across Asia, never plundered for mass farming, often have unusual pedigreed trees particular to the region, microclimate or even land plot. Still more idiosyncratically varied are unbranded “kampung durians”, which are from trees originally planted from unknown seeds.
At Green Acres (http:// greenacrespenang.com), an organic fruit farm on Penang Island, owner Eric Chong also holds degustations of bounty from over 30 types of trees, such as local favourites including Kim Hu (Goldfish). I tasted his kampung durians from a centuryold tree, whose notes of cognac, candied winter melon and white wine segued into a long, finely balanced bittersweet finish.
He gave up a job in KL’s Putrajaya and moved back to the countryside, so that his son could grow up as close to nature as he himself was in the hunting, fishing days of his youth. A Slow Food advocate, Chong sees durian appreciation as an entry point to relearning respect for the environment. “Come for the durians, stay for the lifestyle,” he says, sharing how eating organic produce drastically improved his health. 70 THE PEAK Upon approval Please sign: Name and Date:
The heat waves of this year, however, proved to be a lesson on how capricious nature can be. In Penang, a blazing spring made trees flower profusely. Instead of the typical two or three crop-yielding flowerings and a June-July harvest season, farms saw up to four flowerings over a season stretching from May well into August. Despite this, overall yield was much lower than last year’s, as the drought withheld water needed for fruit growth. Some of Chong’s prized trees died off completely, exhausted from excessive flowering and then aborted fruiting.
Such is the high-risk life of a durian farmer, especially those eschewing chemical control for organic means. High risk, but high rewards: Durian Seng’s trees took a few years to respond to the organic conversion, then began yielding fruit with enhanced flavour.
DURIAN DIMENSIONS
The first taste you encounter in durian is sweetness; this changes subtly in the hours after a durian falls, as its sucrose breaks down into simpler sugars. Next most salient is bitterness, which can vary from upfront and pointed to a more subtle slant. A rarer taste, which according to Durian Seng is found only in durians from older trees eaten within 30 minutes of their fall, is a fleeting “numbing” quality felt on the tongue and lips.
Your tongue registers the above tastes; your perception of durian flavour is filled out and completed by the fruit’s scent, the sum of a myriad different aroma compounds. To fully appreciate it, taste durian as you would a wine, rolling it around your mouth while inhaling. Floral notes can range from light and fresh, such as vanilla or pandan, to heavy and heady. Alcoholic aroma nuances, more prevalent in fruit from older trees, can hint at grape wines, rice wines, and hard liquors like rum, whisky, sherry, cognac. Durian Seng has found woody, smoky, burnt-rice notes in fruit from his oldest trees.
Many of durians’ sulphur-based aroma molecules also appear in other tropical fruit, vegetables and fermented foods, hence the hints of onion, cabbage, stinky cheese and old meat which haters decry. More pleasant aroma notes include: caramel, from butterscotch to palm sugar; nuts and coconut; coffee and chocolate; dairy, such as milk or butter; egg and custard; fruit, from brightly berry-like to brassy, even citrusy; grain-like, such as popcorn or rice; herbs and spices, as surprising as mustard, clove or mint; and more.
Whether selecting durians to farm or to eat, Durian Seng likens the choice to touring the world. Do you stick to a best-of package itinerary, or wander off and around the beaten track like a backpacker? It seems clear which approach most benefits both palates and biodiversity. Look beyond the durian king, and you can live like one instead.
03 OLD IS GOLD
The wrinkled flesh of a Mao Shan Wang at Bao Sheng, a famous plantationin Penang, signifies it camefrom an old tree.
04 LEAVE IT TO NATURE
Bao Sheng’s owner, Durian Seng, shifted toorganic farmingin 2009 to improfruit flavour.
05 EXPAND YOUR PALATE
An XO cultivar favoured for its alcohol-like flavour notes.
FINER POINTS
01 Durians detach from their branches only when ripe. Some farms catch them gently in nets to avoid damage. Before being opened, such net-caught fruit are whacked manually on the ground to simulate the impact of a fall, which jumpstarts the final flavour release.
02 Durians ripen from the base upwards, so sniff near the stem. A fragrant stem end implies that the whole fruit is ripe. Next, carefully and gently shake it: If you feel or hear slight (not extensive) movement inside, the seeds are fully ripe and have pulled away from the shell.
03 Fruit from old trees have wrinkled-looking segments; those from younger trees, smoother faces. Faintly darker patches on durian flesh may signal especially good quality. Different seeds within the same durian will taste different: for example, those on the fruit’s sunward side when it was on the tree may taste better than those on the shaded side.
04 Durian flesh texture varies widely. It can be as firm and fibrous as a cooked parsnip, smooth like a custard, creamy like a mousse, glutinously sticky like a Malay kueh, wet as congee, or dense as a nut butter. As the fruit ages, its flesh gets more watery and loose, and the aroma attenuates. Cold storage slows but does not stop this.
05 And with regard to booze, durian can inhibit ALDH, a key enzyme the liver needs to break down alcohol. So, while the combo may not kill you, it may make you feel awful for a fair while.
