Lots of Names! Lots of 'New' Variants!

As mentioned in another post, a good name SELLS!

Not all durian sellers are dubious, not all namings are wrong.

Take for example, 
-  Black Pearl is actually Tai Yuen (some calls it Cai Yuen).
Why the name Black Pearl?  The flesh is whitish, with some black shades (what we tends to refer to as, blue black).  They won't name it Bruised or Blue Black, as it doesn't sound catchy does it?  Thus Black Pearl!

-  Green Bamboo is actually Tek Kah (Tekka)
Not wrong to call it Bamboo, as Tek Kah is Bamboo Shoot.  Again, Bamboo Shoot doesn't sound catchy as Green Bamboo.

There are quite a lot of durian consumers that are taken by these names and think it is a different variant.  

This year, I've tasted real Red Prawn in Singapore.  Red Prawn and D13 are quite near, but not the exact same fruit.  Red Prawn has a 'pointy' bottom and the color of flesh is a shade paler than D13 (which is usually rich orangy color).


-  Black Gold / Black Thorn
A new entrance into Singapore sometime in 2015, believe it at your own risk.  Black Thorn!

More recently (2017), more and more stores are claiming they are selling Black Gold and Black Thorns.  Hmmm is it real?  I really don't know nor believe claims.  Largely, almost all, are MAO SHAN WANG with this new coined name since consumers loves a good name and willing to pay much higher price just for namesake.

A Black Thorn is not just a 'black' bottom durian or thorns with black tip, but the thorns are also more dark and 'dirty' look.  As I have never tasted this durian, I shall not comment further except that this durian is grown in Penang.  Penang has a huge durian consumer base, thus most of their fruits doesn't make it far from home.  

There are actually more such 'New' variants into Singapore.  Really, believe at your own risk, as you will end up some dollars poorer, and not getting what you are paying for.  

This season, I seen a lot of lookalikes.  Durians that seems like a particular variant but end up being a ungraded (what we used to call, kampung durian) durian.  Seen particularly, lookalikes of XO, Tek Kah, Red Prawn, etc.

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Here is a teaser.  Seen this truly wild durian just yesterday (12072015) at the durian stall, which the guys set it aside just for fun.  

The fruit is small, thorns are very long and overall looks unappealing.  However, the flesh is very rich orangy in color (very!).  When the shells are ply opened, there is a gluey latex strings that holds the shell together.

I didn't taste it.  It was already split open, for who knows how long.  I was told it taste like cockroach!  Would you even want to try it?  I would it it wasn't split.