Durianlicious

13 December 2017

Durian Season Dec 2017 - Johor Durians

My goodness.... am I going to get diabetics soon? Didn't the government talked about the high diabetic rates here in Singapore, and am I one of those heading there soon? Never mind, pee another day!

Over dinner with a friend, we just thought, let's go check out the durians (after having had good D13 on Saturday). I need to be convinced it wasn't a coincidence that the durian I had on Saturday was good. Or... ok never mind, excuses excuse.

So yes, we headed down to the durian shop to try D13. Oh... we ended up with.... let me recall,
- 2pcs D13
- 1pc XO
- 1pc Jing Feng
- 1pc MSW

D13? Red Prawn? Simi la!
My gawd! D13 was awesome beyond imagination. Ok I'm not that imaginative, but it was just the kind that is like Mike Tyson just swing his arm into my jaw, a durian-coma knock out punch that is! How so....

This particular seller knows my taste and pampered me with what could be, the best D13 I had in memory (never mind I'm usually very forgetful). A simple description, it was bruised orangy in color, which isn't common. But I heard from the guy, that the plantation they gotten it from, is known for their D13, possibly the best farm for D13 in Johor.

When the first piece entered my mouth, I couldn't quite believe the explosion and complexity of flavor, texture, aroma! It was, COMPLEX almost to that of a well written drama!

It was creamy creamy, buttery buttery, somewhat a level of thickness fibrous texture, something that is never associated with D13. Usually, it's on the softer and wetter side, but this particular one was just the opposite, that it doesn't just slipped off. There's stickiness to this particular piece we had.

Taste wise, it was bitter sweet and again, creamy... plus the kum kum taste, and that it has that unique aroma that is closed to what I always loved, the fresh brew coffee effect. It was really beyond me! I'm convinced!!! This season's D13 is so so so good, I ended up asking him to help me choose another 3, so I can bring it home, pulp and freeze it, to indulge at a later date!

XO & Jing Feng
Following D13, we had a short rest (maybe 10 mins) before we opened this Jing Feng and XO which I had chosen from e last few available.

We started with Jing Feng. It was, the start of the JF season, so expect lesser. It wasn't a small fruit (I usually like those weighing 1.0 - 1.2kg type) and weighs probably near 1.5kg (yea we didn't weigh it). The taste was acceptable, not exceptional. I'll wait few days before trying it again.

After a couple seeds of JF, I tried XO. The color of XO was beigey and creamy, not the typical whiteness of a commonly seen XO. I always like my XO to be beige than white. The XO we had has this bitterness and a good level of aroma, with the lingering numbness on the tongue like how cognac gives. A mild sweet after taste. It's good given that it's e beginning of XO season.

And I must repeat, it's good enough, cos, after MSW which I had as my next fruit, didn't overwhelmed it when I returned to XO. So this piece of XO should be worthy of a 7/10 (I couldn't give it an 8 since the aroma wasn't quite over the top).

Mao Shan Wang
It was a small fruit, weighing no more than 1.5kg from the looks. We didn't expect much of this MSW. It doesn't look that awesome visually. However, the taste was good, good level of bitterness, a nice pleasant aroma near a good satisfaction level. Overall, this MSW had left me rather impressed! I would rate it 7 to 7.5.

(With this high quality D13 I had lately, it leaves me wanting to try D101 again this season. It should start coming in by end of the week.)

25 November 2017

Durian Season 2017 - Johor Durian, Pahang (Raub / Krau)

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.

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.

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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)

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".

Source: CNA/hm