Durian sellers on viral bruised durians: 'It’s a fine line between fermentation and rotten'

On Jun 30, a Malaysian durian seller went viral on Facebook for posting a photo of severely ‘bruised’ durians, which showed the fruit’s flesh looking bluish-black, like a bruise.

The Ipoh-based seller, known as VOon Z'y, wrote in Mandarin: “A customer dismissed this durian as spoilt, so I could only take it home myself to eat~”

According to the seller, the ‘rotten-looking’ durian is a kampong durian, which is typically harvested from older trees and is known for its puny, misshapen shell that yields durian flesh with intense flavour.

The durian season Facebook post went viral, garnering some 1,400 shares. Netizens debated in the comment section about the edibility of the durian, with some questioning if the fruit was still safe to consume, while others praised it as being “the best of the best”.

Now, 8days.sg has heard about these bruised durians, which some tout as being a delicacy due to their rarity and exceptional bitterness, prized for being almost boozy.

But there is no denying that the greyish flesh also looks like it was once part of a deeply-infected zombie from The Walking Dead. So we ask the professionals, aka local durian sellers, once and for all: Can we eat this durian?

We showed a photo of the Malaysian seller’s bruised durians to Singapore-based durian vendors, who mostly shuddered in horror. “I don’t dare to eat. Seriously. But this looks rare. Don’t know what breed, never see before,” replied Alvin Teoh, owner of Geylang stall Durian 36.

He hypothesised that the severe bruising was more commonly found in “kampong durians”, but that “bruising for Mao Shan Wang is good, ’cause (it means a) bitter and stronger taste”.

According to Cynthia Tan, the owner of online-based business Durian Baby, bruised durians “usually mean fermentation, which carries a bitter taste”.

But she clarified: “We have never seen this level of bruising, definitely not normal. At first glance, I thought the photo was enhanced digitally ’cause it looks unreal. I checked with my other vendor friends and they also said it’s abnormal. It’s a fine line between fermentation and rotten.”

However, she acknowledged that there may be people who deliberately seek out such durians for their unique bitter flavour. “The bitterness sticks to the throat; some describe it as being like swallowing crushed Panadol pills,” she explained.

“Bruised [durian flesh] also tends to have a softer texture. The durians stay on the branch for prolonged periods due to hot weather. This leads to natural fermentation of the fruit, and bruising is the side effect. But it’s probably 5 per cent of the daily harvest or less.”

Due to its extremely low supply, very few durian sellers in Singapore offer bruised durians. Well-loved major durian vendors like Combat Durian and Ah Seng Durian confirmed with 8days.sg that they do not sell such ‘blue-black’ durians.

HOW TO TELL IF IT’S ROTTEN OR GOURMET?

Tan reasoned it is up to the vendors’ discretion to determine if certain bruised durians are safe for consumption. She cautioned: “Fermentation can be induced unnaturally too, by knocking or leaving durians in their husk overnight. Some people also throw the durians around. What’s certain is, freshness will be compromised.”

As for how one can tell if a durian is artificially fermented, Tan shared that you can start by looking at the stem. A discoloured inner stem is the first sign that a durian is not at peak freshness.

She added: “Our interpretation of ‘fresh’ is that the durian drops and reaches your doorstep on the same day. Freshness has different interpretations; some people interpret freshness as ‘as long as (the flesh is kept) inside (the) durian’.”

Secondly, examine the spongy centre lining of the durian chambers attached to the fleshy seeds: It should be clean and white for a fresh durian. “If it’s not fresh, the fibre on the seed is wet, and the middle chamber lining won’t be white. (If it's) not white, (it) means it’s an overnight durian,” said Tan.

Durian seller Anthony Gan, who runs Yishun-based stall Famous Durian, succinctly replied with a thumbs-down emoji when we sent him the bruised durian photo. When asked if he thought it was a bad durian, he said: “Something like that? It looks like it got beaten up by Bruce Lee!”

This story was originally published in 8Days.