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(Carry-over from the "Sandwiches" thread, which was already at 10+ pages and "Sandwiches", I would think, typically have little to do with fruit) The topic is durians. Go. 
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I don't have much first hand knowledge of durians, but I would like to try one sometime... For an entertaining article on this malodorous fruit, see the September 1999 issue of Smithsonian magazine. Choice extract: "Even the durian's scientific name, Durio zibethinus, loosely translates as a thorny fruit smelling of the civet cat, a mammal well-known for the foul-smelling secretions of its scent glands." 
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I remember seeing the article, but have never seen them in the supermarket. I just now tried to look at cited Smithsonian magazine article online, got "This page cannot be shown" So far I have been unable to feel underprivileged not to have tried them.
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Thanks Fiberbabe, you've just made me realize that, with so many people, from so many places, someone on the Board can probably help me identify a fruit I once tried.
I bought it in the supermarket, it was in a basket with a price per unit but no name. It is about the size of a small kiwi with a hard yellowish redish brown outer shell. The inside could best be described as, well, donkey snot being a big lump of translucid goo with a pile of semi-hard greenish lumps about the size of orange pips.
Once the cover was broken open the greenish goo came out in one big blob.
It tasted very lightly sweetish but the feel was so unpleasant that it really didn't do anything for me. Plus, it is the first time I have ever seen my dog back away from food and bark at it.
None of the cashiers knew what it was by the way.
Any idea folks?
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It tasted very lightly sweetish but the feel was so unpleasant that it really didn't do anything for me. Plus, it is the first time I have ever seen my dog back away from food and bark at it. None of the cashiers knew what it was by the way. Any idea folks?
It was likely not a durian. They are rather larger than you described.
No idea what it was.
The reason you do not see durian in supermarkets is because one shipment of durian on the shelf would have the manager calling the local fire department's HAZMAT team. The smell is FOUL. They tell me it is delicious but I could not get by that godawful SMELL !!!
wow
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It is about the size of a small kiwi with a hard yellowish redish brown outer shell. The inside could best be described as, well, donkey snot being a big lump of translucid goo with a pile of semi-hard greenish lumps about the size of orange pips.
Although I tend to think of them in less negative terms, it sounds like it might have been a kind of passion fruit. The kind I've had in South America (distinct from the brownish ones that I've seen more commonly) have a reddish outside, and inside they're a little like you describe. You say "semi-hard greenish lumps" - how green? how hard? were they really as small as pips?
The passion fruit I'm thinking of has translucent orange-white or greeny-white bits inside, but they're a bit bigger than orange pips. Hmmm. Maybe I'm way off here.
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Dear belMarduk: From your description of the delicacy, I am amazed that you had the courage to taste it! Donkey snot...my arthritis will not allow me to roll on floor laughing, which makes it cruel for you to endanger me so!
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A thousand pardons, wwh dear, I was trying NOT to be too graphic in my description; I see I may have failed miserably  . It is not a passion fruit though. I have tried those. The hardish lumps inside the viscous goo were definitely the size of orange pips. If you managed to get a hold of one (very slippery) between two finger they were about as hard as a steamed grain of rice, but with a slimy layer on top. The inside colour was viscous taupish/khaki and the pips a darker shade of taupe/khaki.
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Oh, bel! Whatever that thing was, I bet I'd bark at it, too! wwh, let me help you up off the floor, once I get up myself, of course!
Durians don't have all that much of an odor on display at the supermarket. For a long time, I truly did not know if the thing was a plant or some kind of weird sea life. They look like oversized, slightly irregular, American footballs closely covered with long, stiff sharp spines. I have it on good authority that they do taste delicious, and not all of them smell. Might get up the nerve to try one, when I
have my pig-sticker handy.
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Durians are definitely the king of fruits. All those stories you hear about the smell are gross exaggerations. They are very tricky to get into (in fact I generally have to call for assistance for that part), but once you do!! The flesh is a whitish yellow goo the consistency of a thick custard. Having all that goo on your fingers is all part of the fun. The feel inside your mouth is like a creamy milkshake but I can't pin down what it tastes like, it's unique. If you ever have one outside SE Asia you may not be getting them at their best. The ones grown naturally are distinctly superior to the ones forced into producing at the wrong time of year. There are all sorts of durian flavoured sweets (candies) here and durian flavoured ice cream but the taste bears no resemblance at all as far as I'm concerned.
Bingley
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In reply to:
"Sandwiches", I would think, typically have little to do with fruit
Have you never had a banana sandwich? A perennial favourite in our family when I was younger.
Bingley
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Mine too! When I was first married--a million years ago, we went to visit my ex's aunt and uncle who had just returned from a trip to europe. Uncle Irving had hundreds of pictures-- and one strange one was a menu board at a Cafe. The sandwich offerings where in ABC order, starting with avacodo, then banana...
Irving thought this was the wildest thing, and asked who ever heard of a banana sandwich-- all of my new family was shocked, when i replied I had, and they were my favorite summertime sandwich!
I like them on whole wheat bread, with lettuce and salt and black pepper. The cafe was in England somewhere-- and my parents are Irish-- so i know banana sandwichs are popular in England, Ireland, and now Indonasia-- and everywhere my family scattered, -- in NY, Denver, SF, Richmond (VA) and Tokyo--since we all enjoy banana sandwiches! (there are great with coffee-- the banana's creamy sweetness is wonderful with coffee's sharp bitterness. I drink both hot and ice coffee black)
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I don't know about lettuce, salt, and black pepper, but I personally like them with peanut butter. A nice variation is to take a hot dog bun, put peanut butter inside, and then add the banana like a wiener. Mmm.
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Wholewheat bread, certainly, but not pepper - crunchy brown sugar! NOW you're talking of a dish fit for a king (or a president, if you're a repubican) 
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(or a president, if you're a repubican)
Mind you, a good banana, like good wine, needs no bush!
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Yummm Yumm---Bananas and avocadoes are the most perfect food for adults, babies and all in between. Great form of potassium. My Southern husband likes bananas mixed with peanut butter and mayonaise. I skip the mayo and just add fresh garden lettuce or head lettuce on whole wheat bread with crunchy peanut butter. And then the boys like bananas frozen on a stick and dipped in chocolate!!
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Mind you, a good banana, like good wine, needs no bush!Rhuby!!! 
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Dear Jackie, My experience with durians was in the Philippines where fully ripe durian were piled high ... and believe me the smell was NOT nice ... but then I do have a sensitive "smeller!" wow
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Our favourite as kids was banana and jam sandwiches - all kind of mushed up together - yum!
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"Jammin' bananawich" sounds like there could be a market for this stuff. I have never heard of this combo, but I like to experiment with new and great sounding creations. I think that the kids will love this too and what another great way to get kids to get some vitamins in them. Yum Yum and Thanks
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Bikermom writes:My Southern husband likes bananas mixed with peanut butter and mayonaise.
Your husband and my son must be related. My son has experimented with peanut butter. He's been known to eat it with Mayo, and even mustard. Both of which he pronounced good but I declined trying. But peanut butter and raisins is good, or sliced apple. (which brings us back to fruit and sandwhiches) But I must digress again to say I'm partial to peanut butter and chocolate chips.
My grandmother used to make peach sandwiches. She'd bring a jar of (home-canned) peaches and a loaf of bread on trips. Then she'd stop on the side of the road somewhere and make us lunch. Very squishy.
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But peanut butter and raisins is good, or sliced apple.
A favorite of mine is peanut butter on a sliced apple with some raisins sprinkled on top - they stick nicely to the peanut butter.
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they stick nicely to the peanut butter.I eat my peas with honey, I've done it all my life. It makes the peas taste funny, but it keeps them on the knife. lusy (sorry folks )
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You can smell fruit markets in Malaysia from a hundred metres away if they have durians for sale. In bulk they do stink, but, as Bingley rightly points out, tunnelling into them is worth the effort, particularly if someone else does the tunnelling. They're banned as carry-on luggage from all the regional airlines flying into and out of Singapore ... Stink like civets, I like that. I must inform my Malaysian friends who all rave about them.
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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One of the best sandwiches I ever ate was raw scallop muscles on buttered bread, when out scalloping on Buzzards Bay, MA fifty years ago. It is hard work hauling in the dredges and sorting out the scallops from the stones, old shells, and other debris, so I was really hungry.When really fresh the muscle is pleasantly sweet.The ones in restaurants never taste that good.
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so I was really hungry.
Ah, yes. "Hunger is the best sauce."
wow
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Your scallop story sounded mouth watering. However, more intersting would be the hard work you have endured hauling in those scallops and sorting out the stones?? Did you see "The Perfect Storm"? And if you did, did you think it was appropriately named???? jrj enthusiast
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Your peach sandwiches bring memories of my grandmother too. She canned peaches and us kids used to love dunking homemade bread in the peach juice. Yum Yum!! enthusiast
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I forgot to mention in my sandwich post, about Grilled Peanut Butter Sandwiches. Made just like grilled cheese------Yum yum too[smile enthusiast
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A Singaporean friend at school held me in such high regard that he offered to share his durian sweet with me one day - a great honour apparently, right up there with receiving the sheep's eyes in the middle east.
The sweet was a tubular sort of thing wrapped in clear plastic - an almost hardened jelly that was pale to translucent yellow/white and sticky. Had a faint aroma of old sport socks and a pungent taste that would not go away - despite vast quantities of water.
I think the latin name for the fruit is excellent - and it's closed yet another loop for me.........I now know that when people say (when they've tasted something disgusting) "it's as bad as licking a cat's backside" - they're really referring to it having a taste as awful as that of a durian!!
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Bingley>>>
...durian flavoured ice cream but the taste bears no resemblance at all as far as I'm concerned.
I am so happy I found this thread. Although I am dying with desire for all the other fruits that the name durian brings to mind. For example, Bingley, have you tasted a fruit named "marang" (that is what it's called in southern Philippines). It is like a small jackfruit and the inside is packed with pips, the size of an almond covered with sweet, soft ,creamy jackfruit-like flesh.
I tasted durian ice-cream and if you like to get a glimpse at what some people are raving about this is the way to go for those faint-hearted ones.
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I'm not sure, but it sounds like soursop, also known as custard apple. The Indonesian name is sirsak . But jackfruit (Indonesian nangka ) is completely different inside.
Nangka is a green knobbly fruit about double the size of an American football (you do not want to be under the tree when one drops off). Inside are lots of rubbery bright yellow pouches each containing a seed about the size of a peach stone. These pouches are what you eat. Raw they are delicious. Cooked, I find them revolting, they congeal into a pulsating purplish-brown goo. This is the basis for the Yogyakarta delicacy of gudeg, which I have never been able to bring myself to try.
Bingley
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Just last weekend I had the immense pleasure of learning how to make strawberry-rhubarb jelly. Mom said when she was a girl her grandmother served rhubarb (loaded with sugar, of course)as a dessert. Quite delicious.
Bananas have always been another favorite on buttered toast with sugar sprinkled on top. MMMMMMM!
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I while reading a book last week I came across the word Durians. If not for this thread, I wouldn't have known what they were.
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Like you, ladymoon, I had no idea what Durians were until I read this thread. Unfortunately the thread, as is the wont of foo-threads, went downhill very fast, degenerating into the "sandwich thread of blasted memory" - I pray that its current resurrection will be brief, before the curious urge to start swapping recipes enslaves ayleurs anew. 
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They sell durians a few blocks from my house in Chinatown, and I've had them a couple of times. I happen to like them, although a Thai woman I worked with once claimed that you have to buy them fresh and ripe off the tree. I disagree with Bingley, though. They stink--and only when you open them. And the reactions you get opening them can be hillarious. People literally flee the room. Durian shakes are lovely. The fruits make wonderful holiday gifts, especially to the unsuspecting.
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NOW you're talking of a dish fit for a kingBut, of course!...none other than Elvis himself was notorious for his mass consumption of banana and peanut butter sandwiches (or was it banana and marshmallow sandwiches?)...Aw, probably both! And durians are new to me even though I spent a couple of years working as a produce clerk in a supermarket..this was back in the early '70's, and I discovered a fruit we handled then that I haven't seen since called Ugly Fruit. It was a sort of large grapefruit/tangerine hybrid with lumpy, easily-peelable skin (thus "ugly"), and was the most delicious citrus I have ever tasted! And these are probably half-sandwiches, but I love peanut butter on sliced cucumbers, apples, and pears (and on celery stalks) spritzed with cinnamon, nutmeg, and honey. And, now that I've gotten myself hungry again after that donkey snot description, I think I'll break for dinner!
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Ugly Fruit
I saw Ugli Fruit™ in the store a few months ago. It's spelled "Ugli" presumably so that it can have the trademark symbol next to it (which it really does, I didn't add that in!).
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Bean says, It's spelled "Ugli" Yes!...it's been so long I forgot! Thanks for reminding me!
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Banana and mustard. Nothing else (well, bread helps), just banana and mustard. Preferably an interesting mustard, not that wimpy yellow salad stuff.
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