Durian and Mangosteen, Tropical Fruit Season

Since Malaysia is located on the Equator, we don't have season changes throughout the year. But come this time on every year, there's one thing we are always looking forward to, the tropical fruits seasons!

Love it, or hate it, durian is labelled as the king of all fruit! And as the tropical fruit season undergoing, durian can be spotted virtually almost everywhere. From the roadside to the comfortable supermarkets, you can get them from as low as RM 3 per kg to even RM 25 per kg dependable on the grades that you are getting.

Can you distinguish what durian class is this?

It's the famed D 24 grade

Being a durian fan all his life, my dad shared with me that D 24 durians comes with a very sharp thorns and looked way more spikier than other durians. As for the colour of the shell, it should be in a greenish goldenish colours. The flesh should be in a bright yellow goldenish colour, and you know that you are getting a genuine D 24 durian.

Bright yellow goldenish flesh

Thick and meaty flesh
The taste of D 24 is very rich and thick. It's the combination between bitter and sweet at the extreme end before the tanginess kicks in to your tongue.

On my previous durian experience, besides D 24 durians, my Dad bought another different class of durian.

Another different class of durian

Any idea on what class of this durian is?

Labeled as "Hung Har" which literally means Red prawn, the durian shell is in reddish brown colour and looked to be less spikier compared to D 24 durians. The flesh are slightly orangish in colour and the colour does make it look a little more attractive than D 24 durians.

Orangish flesh of Hung Har

Flesh were slightly less meatier
The taste were slightly milder than D 24. I would describe it as very creamy and milky. Less tangy too, this is the grade to go for should you think D 24 taste is too rich for you. I like this Hung Har grade!

I'd always think that mangosteens is a brother to durians because they always season on the same time. It's like a saying, whenever there is a durian, there is a mangosteen.

Mangosteens

I remembered how my Dad tricked me when I was still small by always telling me the correct amount of flesh available in a mangosteen fruit without tearing it apart. And as I grew older, he finally shared with me the trick!

Count the petals below the mangosteen
The trick is to count the amount of petals below the mangosteen fruit. As for this mangosteen, it has 6 petals, so the amount of flesh within should be in a clove of 6!

And does the trick work?

6 cloves of flesh
So it was right! This is a proven trick and you will not get it wrong to guess the amount of flesh cloves within a mangosteen fruit. Mangosteen flesh itself is very sweet and juicy. There was a myth saying that you should not eat mangosteen with sugar or else you risk getting a diabetes.

My mum did shared with me an interesting fact about the tropical fruit season. She claimed that there are more people get sick than usual with fever, cough, flu or sore throat are the likely association when the tropical fruit season is undergoing. A bit hard to digest for me, but since I'm already being hitted with those sickness, I supposed I have every reason to believe my mum's claim. So do drink more and more water especially you are a fan of durian because it is a very heaty fruit!