2021 Year End Season & Some Insider

Durian season started about 2 weeks ago.  How many have sunken their teeth into the exotic fruit?

Early Season - My First Scandal 

During first week, most durians are MSW.  About half the durian are noticed to come with burnt seeds.  Quality wise, it was not linked to the burnt seeds.  

I just tried a B grade MSW last night and here's my thoughts.

Size : Approx 1.2kg

Quantity : 7 seeds

Review : The smell did appeal to me thus I decided this piece out of 2 I picked out of the lot.  Color of flesh was quite consistent, no uneven ripeness.  Texture is soft on press, yet not  overly soft till approaching runny, the texture that I tends to like, as it is an indication of the taste.

It taste bitter sweet, with a nice lingering aroma up the nostril.  Coming to texture during consumption, there is a bit of uneven softness I must say.  So that does take a bit of points off.  Of the 7 seeds, 5 were small, 2 were full seeds.

I am definitely not one who believes in seed size having significance on the quality, nor am I really bothered about burnt seeds.  

Overall, I would give it a 7/10.  That is good enough for early season.  I'll be back to do another taste test again in the coming days or week.

In-Season  19/11/21 

A quick glance as I went past some durian stalls, seems like most are selling MSW.  Upon checking, D24 is in stock, but the quality is not up to par yet.  A lot of uneven ripeness.  So, hold your gun (mouth I mean).

I tends to favour Pahang's year end D24.  Rainfall are more ample for year end season, thus tends to be less unevenly ripe (but not sure why the early supply is uneven) while mid year, if I go for D24, it has to be Johor's supply.

I had written before, about weather/rainfall and durians, and why I gathered, that mid year (Johor) and year end (Pahang) D24 are better, and not interchanged. 

A Little Insider

Pahang was faced with quite a lot of rainfall during flowering and early fruiting period.  These are not good for durian.  That partly explains the unevenness of texture (it is not uneven ripeness, but just texture) and also burnt seeds.  Another possible cause was over fertilized trees.

Plantation operators are at the mercy of weather.  Consumers at mercy of price.  It's fair.  Plantation operators takes a huge risk.  Retailers takes the direct sales risk.  Consumers mainly faces price fluctuation.  After all, durians are not factory produced products.

Have also been observing retailers selling promo bundle deals of whole durians, at a very glaring price eg 10kg MSW at $200, or even 10kg 'B' MSW at $160.  What many are not aware is, the so called higher price illustrated here, is actually larger sized 'B' MSW while the lower price one is still B but lower grade B (eg 3 sides).  Yes, even within each grade, it is further segregated, like B+ and B-.  

Currently, retailers cannot be selling 'A' grade MSW at $20/kg, as it is very near their cost.  Where's their profit?  Operating a retail business is very high cost and high risk.  I'll not be gullible to blindly believe they will sell A grade MSW at such a price.  However, gimmicks are very attractive and will attract a lot of spenders because consumers are always on the lookout for good bargain.  I'll leave it as that.

I'll need to kneel on durian shells for exposing the insiders.

Harmless Lust

I've not had good D101 for a really really long time, and not expecting to try it.  But I won't hesitate feasting on D101 if it's good.

But I've always had this special lust for a good Tekka.  It's not like, the best durian, texture is usually fibrous/grainy but it's an hard to explain fettish.  Wasted.  Mid year season, I saw some good Tekka but didn't try it.  What gotten into me?  Maybe the monkey took my brain away.

So for this season, let's hope I can get to try some (1) Tekka, hopefully I get impressed with good old (2) some real XO Durian, (3) D24 XO, if some crustaceans swims to me (4) Red Prawns.  

LUST but not least, I need to wash it down with more beer (or a good whiskey... oh man, I visited a whiskey bar recently and had some good whiskey but it's a bit costly tho).  Anyone buying?

Mid Year 2021 Season

I've not been consuming much durians, as it is mostly wasted calories.  Why did I say that?  The quality are sub standard.

A lot of consumers seeks MSW and the recent years 'new' variants, Black Gold and Black Thorns.

Don't get me wrong, I did hear, these 2 variants are available much further up North.  But almost every stall selling it in Singapore?  Gotta be kidding me.  I'm not buying that 

A few observations in recent weeks.

1.  Supplies

Among the many variants available includes MSW, D24, D13, Red Prawns, Jing Feng (Golden Phoenix), Tekka (Green Bamboo), Tai Yuen (Black Pearl), and the 'Black Gold' and 'Black thorns', etc.

2.  Quality

I've tried Red Prawn and MSW only, and I rather go for Red Prawn.

MSW supply are really really disappointing.  Either too dry or too wet.  Taste wise, not even 50% of what I expect from a good MSW.

Oh, and the 'Black Gold' and 'Black Thorns'......  Can i just eat charcoal?  Charcoals are black, and it's authentic you know!  I'm almost having a mental diarrhea after all.

3.  Names names names

Nvm that black thing.... maybe black magic.

Was at the durian stall, and heard twice from different people, that proves a point.  Many consumers eats words and not durians.

What happened was, a couple pointed out at the sign board that had 2 variants printed, Red Prawns and D24, and they wanted D24.  The pile of durian above the board isn't huge, and there was not a single D24.

Another couple, saw a board with more than 10 names, and wanted 1 of it, and that too wasn't available as the whole pile was MSW.

Anyone eating durians?  I don't have an appetite to eat words.  I'm illiterate!

4.  MSW

Ok if I've to consume it.....

MSW are currently graded A, AB, B and C.  Not everyone knows what it actually means.  Yes?

Grade A are the top grade ones, not in terms of taste and quality but shape and size.

Grade AB is the in between of A and B obviously.

Grade B are still quite large, or should I just equate as, medium size, but usually comes with lesser sides and seeds.

Grade C are in a sense, premature.  They are small.

If I've to consume MSW, I rather go for Grade B.  A rather decent size, yet with less sides and seeds.  

I am a believer that the amount of nutrients that goes to each fruit is 'divided' to each seeds.  If a durian has 10 seeds, each seed receives 10%, while a durian with 5 seeds receives double.  Its just theory, unproven.  But that's the durians I preferred.

Fresh Durian Vs Frozen Durian

Fresh Durian

Few evenings ago, I was passing by some durian shops after dropping off some items to a friend, and decided to have a little bit of fresh durian.  The whole of last year, I barely ate durian, partly due to the Circuit Breaker (kind of a lock down) and also, I wasn't so convince of the quality.  It didn't make me crave.

Ok, so, I hard that the season is ending.  Don't expect too much but I'll be objective.

There were D24, MSW and also other whatever variants, plus some Thai durians too.  I decided to try D24 (since MSW isn't my first choice mostly).  

At first sight, both D24s were not impressive I must admit.  It is unevenly ripen!  Each durian had about 5 seeds and only 2 or 3 are evenly ripen while the rest are uneven.  Taste wise, it was really, subtle, not something that leaves me lingering for more.  I washed it down with beer.

(P/s : don't be deceived by the photos above.  I take photo of the nicest piece and it will make the whole durian looks drool worthy)

Frozen Durian

I've been thinking of feasting on my frozen durian from eons ago.  It has been quite long, so I am a little concern if the durian remains edible or has it turned stale.  Among my stock of frozen durians, I have 3 packs that dates as far back as 13 July 2015 ("New Freezing Method" post ) and many other packets up to 2019.

The last time I had a packet was in Sept 2019.  That shows, either I couldn't bear to consume it, or I just forgotten (no way will I forget my frozen durians).

(frozen durian upon defrost, usually doesn't look pretty, well, unless, I mix it again, semi-freeze and use an ice cream scoop to present it in a bowl or something... but, I am such a glutton, I couldn't wait longer to do all these photo thingy)

I took out a pack of frozen MSW from the 2015 batch to see if it is still good.  This batch is already 5 years 9 months old.  Really?  A lot of things doesn't last that long does it?  Would anyone keep frozen durian as long as I did?  This isn't aged wine or whiskey, that gets better if kept in climate controlled environment.  This is fresh fruit kept frozen.

I was prepared it will taste unpleasing but to my surprise, it is still as good as if it was maybe 1 month old frozen durian.  The creaminess, the flavour, the texture (remember to also peel the thicker membrane that sticks to the seed as this layer has a bit more texture), the color, everything!  It was really good!

(My brother came visit me couple of weeks back, and I gave him a pack of frozen durian from this lot [July 2015] to try.  Overall, he found it amazing after nearly 6 years, sticky on the throat.  Now I'm left with 1 pack from this lot [which I'll eat it in July 2021, to make it truly, 6 years old durian].  Next lot was prepared in Sept or Nov 2015).

Verdict!

It's the era of Ice Age!  Where's Scrat?

It taste better than the fresh durian I had days ago.

If you are keen to freeze your own durian, or other puree fruit, remember, the trick is, AIR!  If we look at anything frozen, if there is any pockets of air, it will cause moisture lost, and that is what ruined the texture and taste of whatever we are preserving by freezing.  The freezing method I used is described in this post where I explained about extracting air.

Thai Durian vs Malaysia Durian 

Since the Malaysia durian season ended weeks ago, and the next season is about to start, I had taken to, Thai Durian, namely, Cheng Nee.

Many Singapore/Malaysia consumers are not in favour of Thai durians, for several reasons including, Under ripen durian, low quality, mild durian pungentness, lack of flavor, and the gassy taste that is familiar with Thai durian.

I concur to a certain extend.

From a novice notion, Thai durians are harvested before it fully ripens.  To the Thais, rotten fruit falls off the tree, while good fruits are harvest.  Not wrong.  Which fruit apart from durian, falls off the tree and are consumed?  I can't think of any.

Coming back to this update.  Since the Malaysian durians are not very much in the season yet, well, might as well, try Thai durians.  This piece I tried is a mid size Cheng Nee, weighing between 1.6-1.8kg if I'm not wrong (ailing memory).  

The color is rather even, a sign of consistency, and the flesh are succulent soft and there is no 'blind' spot of hardness (uneven ripeness).  

Taste test.  First bite, it has the aroma that I hope to get, not overly pronounced like Malaysian durians.  Thai durians are more subtle in taste, yet this piece has a nice linger smell up the nose on first bite.  It is mildly sweet/bitter, and smooth creaminess akin to a good MSW (btw, I've not had good MSW for a long time).

The end result, the aroma didn't last too long after the last seed.  It vanish soon after, which is, what is expected of Thai durians, which I'll phase it as, "Good while it last, gone when you are done".

Conclusion of this Thai durian vs the Malaysian durian I had in early April 2021, this Thai durian wins!

Next Malaysia Durian Season

As at last weekend (8 May 21), there are already some Malaysia durians in the market.  If I'm not wrong, most common Malaysia durians available currently are, Kang Hai, D13 and D101.  I'm not sure if other variants are out yet.  I'm not yet keen in Malaysia durians, as it is very early season.  Let's wait another 2 weeks or so.  

Errrr if you try to freeze and age it, and if it turned out bad, don't hold me accountable ok.