The Pahang durian started flowing in towards late October and the good news is, prices have started coming down. Why the contrasting difference between July/Aug 2017 and now?
If we look back to 2016 till mid year 2017 seasons, we were daunted by the extreme weather phenomenon, 2016 being El Nino and 2017 being La Nina. Last year, the quality of durian were unimpressive and supply were not that high. 2016 year end season (into early 2017) saw a much smaller supply than mid 2016, and quality were dwindling.
Mid year 2017, up to about August 2017, supply were almost like, the all time low in recent decade. Prices scored to never seen before price and consumers were almost crying foul. Flowering for mid year season were badly affected by La Nina, with the stronger wind and rainfall during flowering season.
To our relief, the next flowering took place around August and weather were much more forgiving, thus most matured and are now ready to drop.
This year end season, the supply is expected to be higher than mid year, and it is expected Johor and Pahang durians may 'crash' for a short period soon. This brings good news to us consumers. Prices may touch $15/kg for Mao Shan Wang, but I won't complaint so long as we see a healthy $18/kg or better.
Here's the evidence of crime...
4 Nov 17 - Small Mao Shan Wang. Quality was on the drier side, taste wasn't deep enough but it's the first kill of the season so it still satisfied me a little for that night. I'll rate this 5/10.
5 Nov 2017 - Medium size Mao Shan Wang. This one was a little soft, not the type everyone would love but I don't go for texture alone but how it taste. To me, the riper it is, the more depth it gives. I was significantly satisfied with this. Perhaps it was about 7/10.
7 Nov 2017 - Another great MSW that's about 7/10. I expect quality to start improving soon.
I'm going to feast on other variant of durians as supplies increase. On 7 Nov 2017, seller told me the D24 quality isn't optimal thus I held back. I did try XO on 4 Nov and 5 Nov and was rather pleased but since I didn't take any photo, I can't share much about it.
--------13 Nov 2017 session--------
Our trip to the durian stall, was to indulge in Tekka. Tekka season usually doesn't last long since not many plantations plants it. This lot came from Pahang, thus I got to try it. I'm usually eating Johor's Tekka.
This piece we had were awesome. The taste was captivating and it's not overly sweet, and a mixture of bitterness. The intense color is what I've always yearn for in a good Tekka.
When I arrived, as the seller was picking the above Tekka for me, I picked this D24 from the lot and took a sniff. It was calling out to me, I can't let it past. Without a doubt, it was worthy.
--------11 Dec 2017 session--------
The last 10 days or so, durian quality and quantity has declined. Just about 10 days back, we tried Tekka again and must say, the quality was not up to mark. MSW wasn't that worthy either.
On 5 Dec, we tried some MSW, and..... I can't describe. It's just disaster. It was noticeable as that was possibly the 2nd time I just stopped eating without even wanting to avoid wastage. It's really, wasted calories and it's just hard to take another seed. I felt utterly disappointed.
Came weekend, 9 Dec, I had a friend from overseas, which I brought to try out durian. We feasted on D24 and D13, and were also treated D2 and Ganghai (compliments).
D13 are flavorful and very tasty. It's sweet and bitter (not bitter sweet, as the sweetness is stronger than bitter, about 6/4), yet the flavour of D13 were distinctively delicious. It awoken my taste desires once again after the huge disappointment on 5 Dec. I won't go on to describe the other 3 variants since D13 knocked me off.
I was told, durian varieties will start to increase this week.
This new batch of durian are mostly from Johor. The Pahang supplies have dwindled as the 1st flowering has quite much ended. 2nd flowering should start in 2nd half of December 2017 and we are likely to see it last till late Jan or into Feb 2018 (just my guess). The 'crash' between Johor and Pahang supplies may be short lived, probably 1-2 weeks.
