Eating Durians

I was having fruits tonight when popped in a funny and true story. The story is about "How I eat durians."

Durians are large, thorn-covered and have a very distinctive odour.
If you've never eaten durian or don't like it, the smell will resemble somewhat that of a rotten egg mixed with rotten cheese . However if you love eating durian, which I do, it smells just wonderfully delicious. (As long as it isn't in an air-conditioned room.)

It is undoubtedly a one of a kind fruit and has been appropriately named "The King of Fruits." You just have to try it at least once in your life.

I wonder who was the first human brave enough to eat this?

Anyways, the funny thing about durians is that I grew up eating them always with a knife, spoon, and fork. The creamy texture which somewhat resembles a fatty cheese like Mont D'Or , or that of a custard was always eaten scooped up on the spoon.

It was a dessert fruit, so naturally we used the dessert utensils. I always ate it that way and always thought it was the way that durians were supposed to be eaten.

One day at university, nostalgic for home and coupled with a desire to have some Durian, a group of asians (Indonesia, Malaysian and Thai) got together to break open a wholly frozen durian bought at the chinese supermarket. It wasn't easy with its thorny husk, but we managed.

Once open, everyone set out to eat. In went all the hands to much delight, while I just sat there. I didn't know how to eat a durian without a fork. I wasn't joking. I realized then that we are very much the person we are depending upon how we are raised. Habits are formed growing up without us ever knowing that sometimes we are the 'odd' one out.

That afternoon, I learned an interesting fact: at least 90% of the people ate durians with their hands!!

What if the smell sticks to your hands? The miracle is that if you put water in the husk and wash your hands with it, the smell dissipates! Drinking water from the husk also apparently "cools" you down since Durian is considered a "hot" fruit according to Chinese medicine. The wonders of nature. "Hot" and "Cool" all in one.

Nowadays, I alternate between using my hands and my spoon...depending upon where I am.
Its actually much more fun with the hands!! How do you eat your durian? :D:D