Durian, or 榴槤, is one of the most fiercely hated and at the same time one of the most fiercely loved of fruits. Enrobed in a prickly armour that defies all unprepared suitors, tearing shreds through any material silly enough to get close (like my skirts), it finally opens through skilled knifework to expose golden, tender, meaty and very smelly globes of fruit.
My ex brother-in-law politely held down his bile at the appearance of this fruit, even though he is from France and surely must have suffered similar sensory traumas in his introduction to French cheeses?!
Those who love it can delicately dispose of great amounts of this fruit which I always view with awe since a tad too much causes me to wake up with pimples the next morning. And I never get pimples! So how to put durian, this King of Fruits to a real test of the human palate? I finally realized the solution the other day when I brought some durian home from the market and my little girl began jumping up and down with her wee hand clamped over her nose. 'Smelly, mom, smelly!' she cried.
