I have never had an encounter with a delicious durian. The durian I have tasted is more akin to rotting onion custard. Admittedly, I have not had fresh durian in Southeast Asia, so I have not really had the "real thing." A few years ago my brother bought me some artificially flavored durian creme cookies. The real stuff is bad enough, but artificial durian flavor takes it to new heights! [xx(]

Tony Bourdain covers durian pretty well in " A Cooks Tour". Apparently, once it is skinned, it is a delicious fruit, sort of like a cross between a fig and a plum in both taste and texture.

I thought smell was a major part of taste. How can all these foods smell horrible but taste good? Is there some special chemistry? Most foods I eat taste and smell the same.

Too wierd! Durian was the answer on Who wants to be a millionaire this week (last night, maybe?). I had never heard of it until then. Now I see it here, too wierd I tell ya!

MikeS.

Yeah, the Asian supermarket near my house carries frozen durian (it’s less funky, and of course it keeps longer on the trip from the tropics) and one of the stalls in the attached food court occasionally has durian custard or jelly. I even had a durian smoothie once!

It’s funky, yes, but frankly, so many of the things you buy in an Asian supermarket are, erm, uniquely scented, that I barely notice.