Boxes of fruit

For such a dangerous fruit, durian sure is a big business. An article in the NY Times leads with this: “lust for durian is creating fortunes in Southeast Asia”. The value of durian exported from SE Asia into China was $6.7 billion last year.

I’ve played a small part in those fortunes by ordering and then consuming some of the best durian that money can buy.

Chantaburi province is the center of Thailand’s fruit business. Something about the soils, expertise of the growers, the precipitation, and the logistics make this the place to find some incredible fruit. We buy ours from Smile Heart Orchard, a pesticide-free farm specializing in durian and rambutan.

I’m lucky to be able to get fruit from this orchard. They sell all of their harvest. It’s over-subscribed, shall we say, but I have the fortunate connection of having gone to graduate school with one of the owners (yes, they are real experts at producing high quality fruit).

Rambutan (the hedgehog of fruits) require a deft thumb to break the skin. The soft spines and red skin peels away, exposing the juicy and translucent fruit.

Durian, on the other hand, requires a large knife or machete, and is usually handled while wearing gloves. You can see why.

But the thorns on the fruit are only one danger. I’ve always been a bit scared of falling durians. These aren’t little blueberry bushes or anything like that. Durian trees are proper tropical trees, up to 50 meters (160 feet) high when fully grown. And then there is the size: a ripe durian fruit weighs up to 3 kg (7 pounds). A thorned fruit of that mass, falling from a tree of that height, would be devastating.

By avoiding falling durians, wearing gloves when handling the fruits, and using a machete with care when opening the fruits, one minimizes risk. But after one eats the fruit, traditional belief has it that durian can increase body heat. Overheating doesn’t sound good.

An increase in blood pressure after eating durian is apparently another concern. In fact, there have been studies of this, and I was pleased to find that in a study of placebo, 250, or 500 g durian consumption, “a modest amount of durian intake did not affect blood pressure and heart rate in healthy individuals.”

When I read those amounts, I wondered about 1 kg consumption. Or more than 1 kg. When one has boxes of durian, someone needs to eat it. When durian season comes around every year, I do try to restrict myself to “a modest amount of durian intake” but I’d be lying if I said I’ve never exceeded that 500 g mark.

I’ve been braving the overheating risk of durian for many years now, and am pleased to report that it doesn’t seem to bother me.