Hello from Costa Rica. (some comments on Durians....)
Durians are very rare here. I have about 90 trees planted out so far. My best collection of 41 including about 15 cultivars of D. zibethinus and the species dulcis, oxlyeanus, testudinarum, kutejense, graveolens) is on my small farm and about 50 mostly zibethinus on land rented from a neighbor. I have never tried any of these other species but all but the testudinarum are growing fine. It is very slow. I also have about 100 small zibethinus in my nursery, waiting for me to convince another neighbor.....
I had durians about 4 times when I worked in Borneo (Kuching) for several months. The first time I literally held my nose, but it gradually grows on you. Creamy, cheesy, egg noggy, a little reminiscent of cheesecake. Still it was not so great, and the smell was certainly reminiscent of sewer ponds. Malaysians are used to it and don't care. Then I got back to CR after many years and finally got seeds of local fruit. A distant neighbor has some of the first trees (five of them) in CR and the quality and size varies tremendously. He has one tree that is amazing, better than the ones in Borneo. Only a little oniony smell, but the main smell is like cookies coming out of the oven. Sweet, spicy, rummy, cinnamony, cheesy, all together. You can get full just smelling it. The one fruit I got was breakfast, lunch, and supper. And I kept the rind around a few more days to be smelling it until the smell was gone!
But alas my trees are from one to four and a half years old, expect some to produce in about three more years. Then I will be able to tell you which ones are best and offer for sale/trade. And by then we can have our own durian festivals.... IF worthwhile we could propagate the very best and export frozen.
jesse blenn
