I didn’t realise durian and mangosteen are new to some people outside of Asia, until a reader asked a question on it.
Durian and Mangosteen are regarded as the King and Queen of the fruits - that’s what we were told since young.
Durian, from outside, looks like a coconut, with hard shell too, but has spikey surface. It is hard to be opened by non-experienced. One must use a big knife to pry open the shelf to enjoy the pulp.
Once opened, the smell of durian can drive people away or near it. Those who do not like it, can hardly like it in their life. To them, the smell is like sh*t. Ian is one of those who dislike the smell. It is like cheese, I’m not talking about the cheddar cheese, but those soft cheese, which also has an acquired taste.
Inside durian, the ‘meat’ is yellowish to pale beige colour, depending on the species. Some taste very sweet, some taste bitter sweet. I only like the bitter sweet type, but many prefer the pure sweet ones. The texture is like ice-cream, very creamy and soft.
Within the ‘meat’, there are seeds, some are like pingpong ball size, some can be very small like a pebble stone.
Oh, nearly forgot to mention, durian grows on very tall durian trees, and it is impossible to pluck them from the trees. It is not to be plucked. When durian is ripen, it drops to the ground. Legend says that all durians have ‘eyes’ and would not drop onto people’s head. I’ve never heard of people hit by falling durians, but I think it is only because of low probability due to low population. 
The Mangosteen, on the other hand, looks a lot smaller, about half the size of an orange, or perhaps the same size as a small Royal Gala apple. One ripen, the mangosteen’s green colour will turn purple.
A correct method to harvest mangosteen is to pluck them one by one from their trees with tools below:
However, I was told most orchard do not do this as it takes too long. They just shake the trees to let the mangosteens drop on the ground before being collected. This way, the mangosteens are likely to have bruises and less tasty. No wonder I’ve never liked it, but that’s before I’ve tasted it again, freshly plucked from the tree! Yummy!
To eat, hold the upper and bottem half with both hands firmly, twist the fruit to break them apart to reveal the pulp inside. The white creamy seeds are to be eaten fresh. It takes sweet and sour - an opposite refreshing taste compared to durian.
I was told two ways to get rid of the durian’s strong smell after eating:
1) Eat mangosteen (it nutralizes the smell)
2) Take durian’s empty shell, put some water on the inner surface where the seeds used to lay, rub the inner surface with the water and wash hands with the water
I’m not sure was it because I ate too much durian that I got immuned to the smell, or did the method (1) work, for the first time I didn’t get the strong smell on my fingers! 
1 Comment
I didn’t realise durian and mangosteen are new to some people outside of Asia, until a reader asked a question on it.
Durian and Mangosteen are regarded as the King and Queen of the fruits - that’s what we were told since young.
Durian, from outside, looks like a coconut, with hard shell too, but has spikey surface. It is hard to be opened by non-experienced. One must use a big knife to pry open the shelf to enjoy the pulp.
Once opened, the smell of durian can drive people away or near it. Those who do not like it, can hardly like it in their life. To them, the smell is like sh*t. Ian is one of those who dislike the smell. It is like cheese, I’m not talking about the cheddar cheese, but those soft cheese, which also has an acquired taste.
Inside durian, the ‘meat’ is yellowish to pale beige colour, depending on the species. Some taste very sweet, some taste bitter sweet. I only like the bitter sweet type, but many prefer the pure sweet ones. The texture is like ice-cream, very creamy and soft.
Within the ‘meat’, there are seeds, some are like pingpong ball size, some can be very small like a pebble stone.
Oh, nearly forgot to mention, durian grows on very tall durian trees, and it is impossible to pluck them from the trees. It is not to be plucked. When durian is ripen, it drops to the ground. Legend says that all durians have ‘eyes’ and would not drop onto people’s head. I’ve never heard of people hit by falling durians, but I think it is only because of low probability due to low population.
The Mangosteen, on the other hand, looks a lot smaller, about half the size of an orange, or perhaps the same size as a small Royal Gala apple. One ripen, the mangosteen’s green colour will turn purple.
A correct method to harvest mangosteen is to pluck them one by one from their trees with tools below:
However, I was told most orchard do not do this as it takes too long. They just shake the trees to let the mangosteens drop on the ground before being collected. This way, the mangosteens are likely to have bruises and less tasty. No wonder I’ve never liked it, but that’s before I’ve tasted it again, freshly plucked from the tree! Yummy!
To eat, hold the upper and bottem half with both hands firmly, twist the fruit to break them apart to reveal the pulp inside. The white creamy seeds are to be eaten fresh. It takes sweet and sour - an opposite refreshing taste compared to durian.
I was told two ways to get rid of the durian’s strong smell after eating:
1) Eat mangosteen (it nutralizes the smell)
2) Take durian’s empty shell, put some water on the inner surface where the seeds used to lay, rub the inner surface with the water and wash hands with the water
I’m not sure was it because I ate too much durian that I got immuned to the smell, or did the method (1) work, for the first time I didn’t get the strong smell on my fingers!