Durians are a classic dessert in Southeast Asia, yet can be tricky to open properly. Opening one requires skill, experience and using the appropriate tools.
Care must be taken when opening durians as their thorny husk can sting your fingers and cause painful blisters on them. Therefore, wearing gloves when opening durians may be beneficial in protecting yourself and those around you from accidental cuts or burns.
Find the Seams
If you purchase your first durian, chances are it will arrive wrapped in its trademark thorn-covered husk. Though an exotic fruit, opening a durian doesn’t need to be intimidating! Here’s our guide on how you can do just that!
An efficient method for opening a durian fruit is to score along its natural seams in its rind, which are easily visible – they appear as valleys between long thorny mounds.
Once you’ve scored the seam, use your fingers to pry apart the husk in order to access one of the pods hidden within. Each of these pods contains sweet custard-like filling containing large seeds for further analysis.
To achieve optimal results, it’s essential that you select a durian which is sufficiently ripe and shows no signs of being overripe – this will ensure fresh and delectable dishes.
Color, smell and texture are three important indicators for judging durian ripeness. If the fruit appears too dark it may not have reached peak maturity while light durian could still be underripe.
Yeo recommends that the stem of a durian should be green when fresh and brown when old; otherwise it indicates long-term storage with less-than-sweet results.
Look at the flesh: If it feels hard (it should feel slightly harder than your thumb meat) or moves when pushed, that could indicate it has reached peak maturity. Conversely, soft flesh with some give (similar to what’s found in muscle tissue) would make an excellent durian fruit!
Check for its aroma: When looking for durian fruit that’s ripe and ready, its subtle fragrance should not be detectable elsewhere; rather it should have a sweet aroma without any trace of green.
Best of all, this test only takes seconds! Additionally, it provides the most reliable indicator of durian’s maturity.
There are various methods of testing ripeness of durian, but by far the best way is using smell test. While this method may become messy quickly, you can always use paper towel or bowl as a precautionary measure in order to keep the test area tidy.
Score the Seams
When purchasing durians, it’s essential that you know what exactly you are seeking. There are various varieties of durians and each has unique qualities which will help you select the most appropriate variety.
Make sure that the durian you buy is freshly harvested; some durians fall from trees before becoming fully ripe due to malnutrition, wind and rain.
When looking for fresh fruit, look for one with green phloem at its core and small black spots on its exterior husk. This indicates it could potentially be fresh.
An additional indication of freshness is whether or not the stem remains undamaged; it should not bend, twist, or snap off unexpectedly.
Shape of durian fruitlets should also be considered, with fully-shaped ones boasting numerous pods encasing their structure while kidney-shaped durians will have chambers without fruitlets and an empty center chamber instead.
Additionally, it’s advisable to inspect for cracks at the bottom of the husk as an indication of freshness. A seller may also cut a triangular flap in its rind to reveal the consistency and flavor of its fruit flesh interior – something you can examine, smell and touch with your fingertips.
An ideal durian should have a fragrant, sweet-musky aroma with no trace of greenness in its flesh.
To identify the seams, take a sharp knife and make deep scores at each seam of the shell, so as to open your durian easily without making too much of a mess.
Once you’ve scored the seams, use your knife to gradually make cuts deeper until the shell has been completely dismantled into its pods of fruit – this will reveal juicy flesh which makes for delicious snacking!
Now, you should have no trouble cutting a durian into two halves – just be sure to wear gloves and avoid cutting yourself!
If you need any guidance when purchasing durian, don’t be intimidated to seek professional advice from sellers of durian. They usually possess extensive knowledge regarding both varieties and plantations from which durian was harvested.
Pry the Husk Apart
Durio zibethinus, commonly referred to as durian fruit, is an Asian staple that is extremely popular throughout Southeast Asia. Distinguished by a long thorn-covered rind that gives off an unique fragrance, durian is known as the king of fruits; however it requires an acquired taste from outsiders.
Thorns may present an obstacle when opening durian, especially for novice cutters. Gloves may help protect hands, though this process may still prove challenging.
Indonesia has recently succeeded in producing an all-thornless durian! According to Mongabay, agricultural officials from West Nusa Tenggara province have successfully created these easier to cut open durians which will now make eating durian a joyous experience!
These cookies are much sweeter and thinner, increasing their chance of being eaten quickly.
Durians without thorns may also contain more nutrients, including vitamin C, folic acid, thiamin riboflavin niacin B6 potassium iron calcium and magnesium compared with their thorn-covered counterparts.
Before heading out to your nearest grocery store and purchasing tropical fruits, be sure that you know how to select a suitable durian!
“Start by inspecting the husks of any durian you intend to purchase,” advises Tan Chee Kuan of 99 Old Trees in 2017. He advises avoiding durians with yellowish or greenish hues that have yellowed with age as well as those that crack or have soft stems, among other considerations.
An alternative way of checking whether durians you want are ready is smelling them; those that smell best should have a subtle green aroma.
If a durian has an overwhelming odor, it may have overriped. This aroma combines raw sewage and decayed flesh.
Don’t be put off by its pungent smell – some find the durian’s aroma quite pleasant, making it easy to identify when you find an exceptional specimen.
Once you’ve found an ideal durian, slice it open and smell its water to determine whether or not it has an overripe aroma. Be sure to wash your hands after eating this delicacy!
Cut the Fruit
Durian fruit is a hard, spiked fruit with custard-like flesh that can be enjoyed fresh, alongside sticky rice or in various recipes. Due to their difficulty of opening properly it’s essential that consumers know how to open one properly for maximum satisfaction and success!
Once you’ve selected the appropriate durian, the next step will be cutting it open. This process should be fairly straightforward; however, practice and patience may be needed. Once found, locate and cut apart its seams – these sections form when its shell wraps around each pod of flesh within. From here, separate its pods.
Take a sniff of your fruit to assess its ripeness. A ripe fruit should have an aromatic scent that’s neither too raw nor too strong; that should indicate its freshness.
If the durian does have an aromatic scent, move onto step two. Ripe durian flesh should possess a more sweet-scented aroma than that of its entire fruit, without any hint of greeniness.
Durian fruit flesh depends on where it was grown; for instance, in Malaysia its hue will have more yellow tones compared to Thailand where its hue tends towards pale orange hues.
Durian fruit should also be easily identifiable through its husk to its interior where its flesh lies; any crackled and wrinkled areas in its exterior indicate it has gone bad and should be considered an indicator.
Durian fruits often feature minor holes, but when there are multiple holes it could indicate insects have made their home in it. While this shouldn’t pose an immediate problem for most consumers, those who are particularly wary or who live in an environment with bugs might prefer avoiding such durian.
Rotting durian will produce both an unpleasant odor and taste. These include onion-, turpentine- or rotten egg aromas as well as its characteristic sour flavor. A sure sign that a durian has gone bad is when its skin cracks or when its flesh softens to become watery in texture.