For any obsessive durian chaser who has suffered for months of restlessness due to the off-season, he or she would start to feel a rumble of anticipation as the final week of April arrives.

Because it signals the arrival of May. Which is typically the month where the most hectic of durian season starts to stir awake.

It used to be that there is only 1 durian season each year. But with more and more farmers setting up plantations solely to cultivate durian trees, we are seeing more and more unexpected intermittent harvests that can occur sporadically throughout the year. read more

It’s not unheard of to find out that some of the most popular durian cultivars today were the offsprings of other durians.

Some of these legendary stories include the musang king grown out of Raja kunyit, green skin 15 sprouting to life from a chanee seed, or even black thorn from an unknown source in Thailand.

A big reason why these seedlings turned out different from their parent tree was that to clone a cultivar, one would want to graft it instead of nurturing it’s seeds.

It’s a wonder that if these great durians actually came from a mother tree itself, then the fruits from the mother must be absolutely sensational. read more

Most durians come with a very distinctive feature even though that feature might not be unique to them.

But it is enough to make up part of the special attributes that a cultivar identifies with.

For example, black thorn is known for, and aptly named, with reference to it’s flower stamen at the bottom. D24 is known for it’s alcoholic taste which play a long way to having it’s nickname XO. D17 has a reputation for it’s coffee aftertaste. And musang king is known for… being musang king. read more

If you have just entered the world of durians, what led you here might have been the guilt-ridden seductive taste of musang kings.

After all, musang king currently rules the land in Malaysia and Singapore by virtue of it’s incredibly luscious taste and mass availability.

It’s no exaggeration to say that there is still a craze for mao shan wang. At least now there is a huge supply serving the insatiable cravings of the market.

Many years ago, when supply was barely keeping up with demand, people were actually fighting at storefronts for a little elbow room to grab them. read more

It won’t take long for anyone beginning their durian journey to realise that the names that different cultivars take up can be very amusing.

These fun and catchy names serve as a great representation of how everyone from farmers to sellers to consumers approach this market.

Such an interesting irony that such an aggressive looking fruit can hide so much heavenly goodness under the husk. So much so that it arouses desires and cravings that simply would not go away.

Most of the infamous durian names are typically a fun term that describes a certain aspect of how the durian looks. read more

If you have never been exposed to the world of durians, looking at a list containing the names of durian varieties might make you think that you are looking at a list of horses’ names at the races.

They can be so random and mystifying that defies all logic towards naming fruits.

But durian farmers are mostly fun loving people who joke around and always see the lighter side of things. You are not going to see them walking around with a swagger wearing power suits… even though many plantation owners are millionaires. read more

For people who prefer Malaysia durians over Thailand durians, we can generally assume they have a personal preference to certain key characteristics the former is different from the latter.

The primary one is of course, well documented to be the ripeness with Malaysian durian harvested when they are more ripe compared to their counterparts up north.

Loving a ripe durian also comes with the inference that one prefers flesh that is softer, and more in liquid form that it is in solid form.

In the generally broad category of Malaysia durian, all durians can be further categorized generally as having grown from young trees or old trees. read more