And in other news, durian causes an evacuation in Germany and sends people to a hospital... but I love durian!
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/22/europe/durian-germany-evacuat...
Eating Thai Fruit Demands Serious Effort but Delivers Sublime Reward
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Re: Eating Thai Fruit Demands Serious Effort but Delivers Sublime Reward
#42This isn't exclusive to exotic fruit either. In a trip to central Washington, I bought a flat of Pluots (plum/apricot hybrids), and they were one of the most profound things I have ever eaten. So sweet and juicy, they almost burst like water balloons when you took a bite. Less than four hours away from where they are grown, I have yet to find any varieties with the same magic available in grocery stores. They good on…
In Virginia we have pawpaw fruit that taste like custard, but must be eaten soon after picking since they bruise very easily and don’t store or ship well.
Re: Eating Thai Fruit Demands Serious Effort but Delivers Sublime Reward
#43This isn't exclusive to exotic fruit either. In a trip to central Washington, I bought a flat of Pluots (plum/apricot hybrids), and they were one of the most profound things I have ever eaten. So sweet and juicy, they almost burst like water balloons when you took a bite. Less than four hours away from where they are grown, I have yet to find any varieties with the same magic available in grocery stores. They good on…
Similarly, there's a fruit that is supposedly found all over the midwest but that I can never find in Chicago: the "paw paw".
Apparently they don't travel or keep well, so supermarkets almost never stock them.
Re: Eating Thai Fruit Demands Serious Effort but Delivers Sublime Reward
#44This isn't exclusive to exotic fruit either. In a trip to central Washington, I bought a flat of Pluots (plum/apricot hybrids), and they were one of the most profound things I have ever eaten. So sweet and juicy, they almost burst like water balloons when you took a bite. Less than four hours away from where they are grown, I have yet to find any varieties with the same magic available in grocery stores. They good on…
Similarly, there's a fruit that is supposedly found all over the midwest but that I can never find in Chicago: the "paw paw". Apparently they don't travel or keep well, so supermarkets almost never stock them.
Re: Eating Thai Fruit Demands Serious Effort but Delivers Sublime Reward
#45My wife's family is from SE Asia and I always eat way more fruit than normal when visiting. It's always cheap, plentiful and high quality. Star fruit are one of my favorites. Kind of a crunchy, tart apple flavor.
Try a golden starfruit next time, and ripen it until the edges turn brown. It will now be sweet and juicy.
Re: Eating Thai Fruit Demands Serious Effort but Delivers Sublime Reward
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm in this boat and my wife thinks I'm being fussy. The thought of cilantro wants to make me puke but no one ever seems to relate to it. The worst part is my native cuisine uses cilantro extensively.
> I'm in this boat and my wife thinks I'm being fussy. I'm curious about the phrasing here; as far as I can see, that's what "being fussy" means.
She thinks it's a choice. For me, when I eat cilantro I really do feel like puking. There was a study that said cilantro tastes like soap to 10% of the population.
Re: Eating Thai Fruit Demands Serious Effort but Delivers Sublime Reward
#47Dragon fruit can be grown in California, Florida, and Hawaii and is not "bland mush with tiny seeds that can require floss to dislodge". The author must have had a bad one. They can be extremely sweet. The seeds are so small that they go down without noticing and I've never had to use floss. My favorite is a variety with deep red flesh.
Mangosteen is so far from its depiction---"to eat a pile of mangosteens is an exercise in disappointment"---that I wonder what kind of pile the author ate. In the US, imported mangosteens can run $20 a pound, so getting a few bad ones would be a disappointment. I suppose many vendors would issue a refund for the bad ones. But in Thailand a pile of mangosteens is so cheap that you wouldn't bother. They are exquisite, almost the fruit equivalent of ice cream (they taste better chilled). It's no wonder they call it the queen of fruits.
Durian likewise deserves its designation as king of fruits. Most people, myself included, are repulsed on the first encounter. But if you can get over the initial shock, you will enjoy the most flavorful fruit with custard-like texture. Its flavor can be described as a combination of many other fruit flavors with a complexity only matched by good coffee and dark chocolate.
Jackfruit is cheap and abundant in Mexican and Asian supermarkets in the US. The trouble is peeling and finishing a whole one. Some stores may sell wrapped pieces if you just want a taste. But if you have some guests and time to work with gloves and a knife, eating a whole jackfruit is a memorable experience.
Re: Eating Thai Fruit Demands Serious Effort but Delivers Sublime Reward
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm curious is aversion to durian is at least somewhat genetic, similar to cilantro and broccoli. I spent 6 weeks traveling around Southeast Asia (Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam), including several days in Bangkok. I ate a metric ton of durian, jackfruit (my favourite), mangostein, lychie, and so forth. I never noted any negative durian odour, and I just assumed that "it must always be fresh in Southeast Asia", an…
No one has mentioned so far that there are many variety of durian, which has different smells. Another factor is how ripe the durian is. For example, probably anyone could eat a montong durian that's not too ripe. The kind and ripeness that is most popular seems to vary by country as well.
Yup. Thais tend to like their durians fairly fresh and not so stinky, while some Malaysians push them right to the edge of rotting. (The parallels to cheese are quite clear.)
Re: Eating Thai Fruit Demands Serious Effort but Delivers Sublime Reward
#49On a recent trip to Bangkok it was often hard to tell whether one was approaching an actual open sewer or just a durian stall. Sad I missed the fruit market though, I bet they have a massive variety of banana cultivars. I tried a couple I'd never had before when over there.
I once read a description of having durian as something like "eating vanilla while standing next to a trash heap" and I have to say that's stuck with me as fairly accurate. There's a good flavour with some pretty bad bits but over time you learn to ignore or even like them.
I quite like it, especially with dairy, but it seems to upset my stomach (durian burps aren't great).
Re: Eating Thai Fruit Demands Serious Effort but Delivers Sublime Reward
#50Hilariously, in Singapore jackfruit is banned on public transport because it smells so awful. I tried some of this though and it it's not a flavor that I had tasted before. Hard to describe but really good if you could hold your nose for the smell.
Jackfruit or Durian?
It's durian! Brain fart