On a fun trip up to Pahang (Raub and Krau) in in July and late August 2017 was fun. In August especially, we made some friends in the trade, gotten to visit a durian plantation, understand a little further in the durian business.
The trip isn't all durian. We tried the most tasty fresh water fishes we ever had in our life maybe. The fresh water fishes were not 'muddy' tasting like what we frequently associated fresh water fishes with. The fishes were fresh, meat were tender and with no hint of 'mud' taste. Cooking were awesome too.
In Bukit Tinggi, there are a few rows of shophouses and I bet nearly 1/3 shops were seafood restaurants. That's how popular their fresh water fishes are. Oh wait.... this is about durian, not fishes. How did I stray so far....
Back to durian. The trees were fruiting (very tiny fruits, no larger than table tennis ball size) and flowering as well. Almost every plantation we went pass, saw trees with a lot of flowers. That's a really good sign that year end supply will be good (provided weather doesn't act up during the 'first trimester').
In mid September, on a trip up to Genting, I had went to Pahang Bt Tinggi for dinner one afternoon. Along the way, we saw durian trees with flowers too. Apparently, the flowering didn't stop from 2 weeks ago. On the way back to Singapore, going past Serembang, we saw some smaller plantations and they too, were flowering.
From these signs, the supply should start (those bearing small fruits in late Aug) in November, which is what we are getting currently. Those flowering in late August till Mid September, should start dropping in December and I guess it will last into January, before supply reduces.
Back to Johor.
I understand just a week ago, the plantations are bearing a lot of fruits too. It is expected to start falling come early December and odd to last through December. The plantation owner and staffs are on about to get cracking soon.
However, this weekend and maybe next 1-2 weeks, we odd to see prices climb a bit, since the durians from first flowering odd to decline. We will experience price drop come Mid December, I guess. Enjoy it when it happens. Stock up time.
25 November 2017
20 November 2017
Stupid Rumor Mongering
I'll be crude in my words in this post, doesn't matter if I upset some. I'm not here to nanny sit people's ego.
----------------------------
I've received some completely unfound durian related rumor that is being spammed by an unknown IDIOT!
Hoax news are always abound by ill hearted weakling who just wants to cause confusion and there are definitely people who will be taken in by false news. It doesn't take much intelligence to tell some cheap and idiotic hoax as the contents are just too stupid!
Here's the one I received on Saturday and again today.
>> Received from someone. Not sure if it’s true...🙁
----------------------------
I've received some completely unfound durian related rumor that is being spammed by an unknown IDIOT!
Hoax news are always abound by ill hearted weakling who just wants to cause confusion and there are definitely people who will be taken in by false news. It doesn't take much intelligence to tell some cheap and idiotic hoax as the contents are just too stupid!
Here's the one I received on Saturday and again today.
>> Received from someone. Not sure if it’s true...🙁
Seemed
China rejected closed to more than 20 containers of musang king durians
due to too high insecticide detected in the fruits. That is why the
durians returned back to M’sia. Now selling @ cheap price ..... so eat @
your own discretion. 😬 <<
Attached photo that came with the message
To whoever is that DUMB IDIOT, he probably can't afford this exotic fruit, durian. Stick to apples will you!
I'll debunk this!
Firstly, from the photo, these are THAILAND DURIANS and not Malaysia! In Malaysia, durians are collected and placed into baskets within a mere couple of hours and transported out, all within short hours.
Those that are destined for China market, are packed into styroform boxes, with 4 durians in 1 box, sealed with clear masking tape and flew to China. It is not send by containers, via sea. NO! That's already one hint of how stupid that hoax starter is!
Malaysia durians are naturally ripen, thus can't take the long time being send by sea. Thai durians, on the other hand, are semi-ripe when harvest. It turns with the aid of ripening agents thus can take longer periods of transit.
Next, pesticides are definitely used for durians. But pesticides are costly. Malaysia farmers spray pesticides once every 2 weeks on average. By the time the durian falls, the pesticides on durian shell are already halved. Pesticides are sprayed upwards. Durians are not soak in pesticides or insecticides as claimed. Stupid!
Lastly, if Malaysia durians are sent to China and returned to Malaysia, the durians would have over-ripen and if it is send to Singapore, it would have rot. STUPID!
Stupidity has no boundary and if we are to believe and continue spreading falsehood, we are not acting any smarter.
Truth About Cheaper Durians
There are many price sensitive consumers here that hunt for cheap bargains. So, the hoax are probably well targeted at some.
Why are durians cheaper now, than previous seasons this year? In 2016, SE Asia were hit by El Nino and in 2017, we faced La Nina (talked about in a post sometime back so I won't elaborate further). This caused a huge decline in durian production.
In late August 2017, I went up to Pahang with some friends, and saw a lot of tiny durians, and a lot of trees were flowering. In September and October, weather was rather good! So this season, yield will be high.
It doesn't take much to understand economics, Demand And Supply.
Another reason why prices APPEARS cheaper at some stalls. On average, the going prices for MSW right now (mid Nov) is between $15-20 per kilogram. But there are some stalls selling at $10-12/kg. WHY? Not everyone knows how prices works. I'll just shine some light into this.
From the whole lot of durians delivered to the stall, the durian guys will sort out the durians by quality. The best of the lot, will be priced higher, while the bulk will be priced in the common range. The cheapest ones, be it $10 each, or $10-12/kg, are usually small sized MSW or odd shape ones, that has lesser sides.
Next time you go to the durian stall, check out the price range and shape/size. You will get what I mean.
Don't be taken in by hoax started by stupid people else we end up being victim of stupidity.
(yea yea, I'm usually light hearted and happy where it comes to writing about durian... but this time I'm all fired up with some coarse words, deliberately. Some people just loves believing in whatever they read without giving it some thoughts)
Source: CNA/hm
23/11/2017 News
SINGAPORE: Durians in Singapore do not have excessive levels of pesticide and are safe to eat, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) said, dispelling rumours that have been circulating on social media.
"Some durian lovers have come across rumours about high levels of 'insecticide' in Malaysia’s Musang King durians, and asked if it is safe to consume durians imported from Malaysia," AVA said in a Facebook post on Tuesday (Nov 21).
...
Rumours that 20 containers of durians were rejected by China due to high insecticide levels and returned to Malaysia were spread online last week. The viral messages said that this was why the price of the fruit had fallen this season.
The New Straits Times called the messages "fake news" in an article on Saturday. Durian farmers told NST that the price of Musang King durians had dropped as there had been an "abundance of supply".
Let's Go Panda! Tekka Time (some commercially calls it Green Bamboo)
Tekka (hokkien for bamboo 'leg') or some shops calls it fancy names like Green Bamboo... WHATEVER!
How many of you have tried this variant of durian? I swear by it! A good tekka always tame my durian desires.
About 2 weeks ago, a durian seller messaged me, "Pahang Tekka has arrived!" Immediately that night, I flew down to the store! The last 2 weeks, I must have eaten this Tekka 5 times.
Among the many durians I've tried (here in Singapore), the one that always wow me over is Tekka follow by Jing Feng. Yes there are other favorites but these 2 never failed to seduced me.
Tekka is a far over under rated durian that most consumers pass by, going for the all so predictable Mao Shan Wang (MSW). What's e biggie about MSW? The hills of Pahang are mostly filled with MSW, follow by D24, and a small percentage of other variants.
Tekka isn't a popular durian plantation owners wants to plant. My unproven guess is
- Tekka's yield is lesser than MSW or D24, and
- Tekka is risky durian, as fruits doesn't always turned out awesome, it can be inconsistently ripen.
With that, it is little wonder there ain't much Tekka.
Durian sellers also doesn't like selling Tekka for a few reasons (guess again)
- Quality is inconsistent (like mentioned above, inconsistent ripeness)
- Cost quite high (likely in between D24 and MSW)
- Yield is low, consumers thinks they are paying too much (ok that's great news for me)
- Difficult to open
I've done a write up on Tekka before. I'll just repeat but in summary.
Shell
It looks a little odd shape, instead of regular shape durians. Thorns are bigger (like MSW) and tough looking. Some may mistaken this as Thai durian.
Color of shell is usually on the brownish, soil like tone. Sometimes a bit yellowish too. It's seldom nicely green in color. Not a pretty durian, it'll never win a Miss Durian Pageant.
Inside
There's this rough acne looking crater in the center running from top to bottom, which we termed it 'liulian sim' (sim is hokkien for Heart). This is a unique character of Tekka.
Flesh & Taste
The richer the color, the better it is. Pale yellow tends to be dry and less strong tasting. Deep yellow tends to be richer in taste and softer texture.
It's got a complexity unlike predictable durians (eg D13, D101, MSW, these are all so predictable). There's a mild citrus taste, yet that odd hard to describe porn... i'm quite lost for words.
Most Tekka are sweet with a nice hint of bitterness. Level of bitterness is quite low, Probably 3/10 at most.
Conclusion
This durian has never failed to impress my friends whom I introduced it to. Several friends are hooked. All I need to do, to lure them for durian is, telling them I'm going for Tekka.
Are you a durian lover? If you are, you won't be so staunch about eating just 1 type, typically MSW. How often have I not come across Singaporean durian consumers, who claims to be a durian lover, that sticks to MSW only. That's just MSW lover, not durian lover. Don't get confused! Your lost is my gain!
Move aside Mao Shan Wang, you are never good enough!
------------------ update 5 Dec 2017 ------------------
Last I ate this was on 1 Dec 2017. Quality has diminished. I suspect the first flowering in Pahang is ending thus supply is lower and quality isn't as optimal. I'll wait for 2nd flowering's harvest, which should start from Mid December.
Johor's Tekka isn't available yet. Will update accordingly.
(Panda is on diet)
How many of you have tried this variant of durian? I swear by it! A good tekka always tame my durian desires.
About 2 weeks ago, a durian seller messaged me, "Pahang Tekka has arrived!" Immediately that night, I flew down to the store! The last 2 weeks, I must have eaten this Tekka 5 times.
Among the many durians I've tried (here in Singapore), the one that always wow me over is Tekka follow by Jing Feng. Yes there are other favorites but these 2 never failed to seduced me.
Tekka is a far over under rated durian that most consumers pass by, going for the all so predictable Mao Shan Wang (MSW). What's e biggie about MSW? The hills of Pahang are mostly filled with MSW, follow by D24, and a small percentage of other variants.
Tekka isn't a popular durian plantation owners wants to plant. My unproven guess is
- Tekka's yield is lesser than MSW or D24, and
- Tekka is risky durian, as fruits doesn't always turned out awesome, it can be inconsistently ripen.
With that, it is little wonder there ain't much Tekka.
Durian sellers also doesn't like selling Tekka for a few reasons (guess again)
- Quality is inconsistent (like mentioned above, inconsistent ripeness)
- Cost quite high (likely in between D24 and MSW)
- Yield is low, consumers thinks they are paying too much (ok that's great news for me)
- Difficult to open
I've done a write up on Tekka before. I'll just repeat but in summary.
Shell
It looks a little odd shape, instead of regular shape durians. Thorns are bigger (like MSW) and tough looking. Some may mistaken this as Thai durian.
Color of shell is usually on the brownish, soil like tone. Sometimes a bit yellowish too. It's seldom nicely green in color. Not a pretty durian, it'll never win a Miss Durian Pageant.
Inside
There's this rough acne looking crater in the center running from top to bottom, which we termed it 'liulian sim' (sim is hokkien for Heart). This is a unique character of Tekka.
Flesh & Taste
The richer the color, the better it is. Pale yellow tends to be dry and less strong tasting. Deep yellow tends to be richer in taste and softer texture.
It's got a complexity unlike predictable durians (eg D13, D101, MSW, these are all so predictable). There's a mild citrus taste, yet that odd hard to describe porn... i'm quite lost for words.
Most Tekka are sweet with a nice hint of bitterness. Level of bitterness is quite low, Probably 3/10 at most.
Conclusion
This durian has never failed to impress my friends whom I introduced it to. Several friends are hooked. All I need to do, to lure them for durian is, telling them I'm going for Tekka.
Are you a durian lover? If you are, you won't be so staunch about eating just 1 type, typically MSW. How often have I not come across Singaporean durian consumers, who claims to be a durian lover, that sticks to MSW only. That's just MSW lover, not durian lover. Don't get confused! Your lost is my gain!
Move aside Mao Shan Wang, you are never good enough!
------------------ update 5 Dec 2017 ------------------
Last I ate this was on 1 Dec 2017. Quality has diminished. I suspect the first flowering in Pahang is ending thus supply is lower and quality isn't as optimal. I'll wait for 2nd flowering's harvest, which should start from Mid December.
Johor's Tekka isn't available yet. Will update accordingly.
(Panda is on diet)
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