Mao Shan Wang MSW - The Sequel to Name Sells (Different Variant?)

Just yesterday, I was out for my lunch, when I noticed that durian prices have 'soften' and became very appealing to consumers.  There were heaps of different variants of durians from Johor for sale there.

After the quick stroll through the heaps and settling down at the coffeeshop next to the make shift stall, I noticed seemingly some happy customers leaving the durian stall with bags of comfortable priced durians.

However, when I look upwards to the tentage, I couldn't help but noticed this banner.  

It is quite a common sight to see "Black Gold" and Pahang MSW, among other FANCIFUL names.  So, based on the banner above, how different are they?

I'm sure many consumers have heard/seen the following too

-  Highland MSW

-  Old Tree MSW

-  Highland Old Tree MSW

-  and recent years, Black Gold MSW and 

-  Tai Shang Wang

-  Wang Zhong Wang

I'm not saying there are no such durian (or if everything is real), but, hey, what's the authenticity of these 'variants'?  Many consumers are very unaware!  It's fine paying more for what you deem you are getting, or should I generally say, pay the price you are willing to pay for what you gotten.  Authenticity isn't relevant ya??

Let me share a bit of Insider info.  If every consumer is aware of this, and durian sellers sees this post.... well.... i leave it as that.

Before revealing further, let me refresh 1 variant that has largely been forgotten... Wang Zhong Wang!  Hey, isn't that a variant that sellers claims????  WHAT?  EXTINCTION together with the dinosaurs?  Oh no... why didn't Xiao Qiang (nick name for cockroach, in case foreign readers wonder what that is) didn't go extinct? 

Now, let is go through the different 'Variants'/names in a sellers gonna hate me fashion.

The 'Extinct' Wang Zhong Wang (WZW)

In reality, WZW is NOT a variant on its own!  It is just the better of the lot!  Get it?  Years ago, sellers single out a few pieces from that day's supply and grouped it as WZW!  

Is it wrong?  Well, it's fine with me actually.  After all, it was usually the better of the whole day's supply and many consumers don't mind paying a few extra dollars per kilogram for it.

So, any variant of durian, can actually be categorized as WZW.  It isn't really wrong in my opinion.

The Different Types of MSW

Before going into it.  MSW was first discovered in the 80s, which is nearly 40 years ago.  It was discovered in Kelantan, and a branch was grafted onto a durian tree in Pahang.  That's the origin of MSW.  

Referring to the list of names above, I'll group these (Highland, Old Tree, Highland Old Tree) together, as it is all MSW that consumers are accustomed with.

How wrong is it to term, Pahang's durian (even if it is just kampung durian from Pahang) as HIGHLAND?  Many parts of Pahang are actually highlands, especially the durian growing region.

Highland Old Tree is just another jargon.

Old tree.  HOW OLD are these trees, before they are categorized as Old Tree?  Oh ya... we don't relate to age as YOUNG do we?  So, a ONE year old child is still called 'old'.

But if people knows better, most trees are actually very young.  Most MSW are grafted from another grafted MSW 'tree'.  So do we take the age from the 

-  grafted branch as it's age, or 

-  the original tree that it was grafted onto, or

-  since MSW came from a tree discovered in the 1980s?  

Whichever, it can't be considered old even if the tree is maybe 20+ years old right?  I'm senile, forgotten, I just mentioned One Year Old is also called Old.

Oh how about Genting Highland Old Tree

Some frequent visitors to Genting Highland would have encounter durian stalls near the foot hill.  Among the most popular durian variant that consumers loved would be MSW.

So, that's how Genting Highland Old Tree MSW came about.  Genting, I am not sure if there is even a single MSW tree there. Maybe someday, someone is going to start claiming Cameroon Highland or Fraser Hill once the novelty of the current range of names gets stale.

What about Black Gold and Tai Shang Wang

Black Gold MSW was a term coined in recent years and from my unfounded understanding (I'm just BSing here)... as told by sellers too actually.... Black Gold MSW are MSW with the 'black' bruised hue instead of the evenly yellow MSW.  Generally, they just made it seems like e premium range la.

Wang Zhong Wang disappeared so suddenly, and well... Black Gold sounds really nice.

(remember to keep your poop, cos it's worth in gold)

Tai Shang Wang

Going back in history (goodness... i am either sounding old, or a historian wannabe but can't be), the term Tai Shang Wang (or Huang) is an honorific and institution of retired emperorship (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taishang_Huang)

So, is Tai Shang Wang/Huang, a retired MSW?  Or just a honorific name that is merely just... MSW?

Differentiating MSW

Among the many names above, are they really so different, or just a name?

I've helped out at certain durian stalls before, for fun, or because I was invited to help.  It's not exactly for the money, cos it doesn't measure up.

So, from what I know (up to you to believe me).  MSW arrived based on Grade A, Grade B and Grade C!  It doesn't arrive as Black Gold, Tai Shang Wang, Highland, Old Tree, or any other fancy names!!!  PERIOD!

The 'variants' segregation are... done at/by the stall.  

So it is up to you to believe what you were sold, or know where these 'variants' came from.... 1 random seller told me years ago, I don't know how to eat durian.  I only told him, "yes, I don't know how to eat durian, but he knows how to sell, so sell it to gullible buyers".  

Spare me his crap.  When I started eating durian, he was still swimming in some sack (gosh, I'm so uncouth here).

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Disclaimer : This insider may upset some sellers... or make some consumers rethink what they are being sold.  

So, who is telling the truth?  This senile blogger or your durian seller?

I'm not sorry... it was intentional!  

Mid Year 2022

As reported in Malay Mail news portal, that durian prices will see a steep increase.

Extract from the article below:

JASIN, May 14 — Durian fans, especially those who love premium varieties like Musang King and Black Thorn, will have to deal with an expected 100 per cent price increase during this year’s durian season.

Deputy Agriculture and Food Industry Minister I Datuk Seri Ahmad Hamzah said the price hike was due to a 50 per cent drop in durian production due to weather conditions.

“We believe that the rainy season at the end of March to April has impacted the pollination of durian, which impacts the number of fruits.

Too much rainfall and strong wind impacts pollination.  This is not just during the pollination period but also during early stages of fruition.

The repeated heavy rain and flooding in Malaysia (referring to Weather Report between late 2021 till recent) will reduce fruition extensively.

Extract on most current report :

Pahang, Malaysia

Event Date : Tue, 10 May 2022

AHADID : AHA-FL-2022-000550-MYS | GLIDE Number:

Impact Update Date : Tue, 10 May 2022 14:07:53

AFFECTED AREA/S

Bentong

DESCRIPTION

Heavy rainfall has been affecting southeastern Peninsular Malaysia (in particular the Pahang State) since 10 May, causing floods that have resulted in evacuations and damage. Media report, as of 12 May, around 100 evacuated people and nearly 150 damaged houses across the Bentong District (north-east of the Kuala Lumpur area, Pahang State). Over the next 24 hours, more heavy rainfall with locally very heavy rainfall is forecast over the whole of Peninsular Malaysia.

As we are in the early season, and with this rainfall, it just gets me wondering on the quality.  Having spoken to a durian seller last week, he shared that the quality is only 50% yield per basket.

I'll hold my fangs... not much craving for durians in the last 2 years due to lower quality.

P/S : Heng ah, I still have a lot of frozen durian puree in the freezer... and i'm not sharing with anyone/everyone.

------------update 20/06/22--------------

As reported in the news article recently, durian prices in Singapore drop due to surprised bumper crop.  It was mentioned in the article, the recent rain caused durians to drop earlier.

In the past, most durian consumers are familiar with the notion that rain induced durian supply are usually not so ideal.  Well, I don't know, I haven't eaten this batch of durian yet.

I would think this current softening of price will last only till late June 2022.

In recent years, my passion for durian has dipped tremendously.  I find the taste and flavour to be massively lacking compared to mid 2000s.  

Easily 8 out of 10 times I got to try MSW, it disappoints so much, I end up referring it as, wasted calories, or the stomach is full but the soul is empty!  It's THAT BAD!

I'll consider eating it over the next couple of weeks, but not craving for it any bit.

Just recalled another post I did on End of Cheap Durians (due to demand of the Chinese Market) few years ago.  This recent bumper supply won't last, but it has proven a point, that the chinese market may have helped durian growers to sell to China at better price, but they are not masters of nature.

 

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?