Author Topic: First taste of Durian and some other tropical fruits  (Read 2460 times)

Grapebush

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First taste of Durian and some other tropical fruits
« on: April 12, 2017, 09:57:15 PM »
I spent the last few days in Paris, where I was promoting some running events I co-organize here in my Island. In some free time I had, I took a visit to the local "China Town" (Cartier Chinois), where I was able to find an asian supermarket with plenty of tropical fruits, including fresh Durian, for my surprise. The prices weren't cheap, but some of these are fruits I'm not able to put my hands on that often, so I take some, having tasted 3 for the first time: Durian, Star apple, and a type o Salacca that I think is S. wallichiana.
My first impression on the Durian, was that it doesn't smell that bad as some people says, at least for my nose. However the seeds are quite stinky. The taste at first is quite bizarre, but I liked, at least this variety. It was a mix, of curry, roasted pork, banana and maybe passion fruit; a friend that was with me, also tasted a bit, and had the same opinion about taste. The thing with it, is that the seeds are huge and the flesh isn't that much, but still worth the experience. Saved the seeds to plant, let's see how they're going to develop...
The best surprise for me was the Caimito! I never payed to much attention to this fruit, and for so many times I had the opportunity to buy cheap seeds of this species, and always tought it wouldn't please me; this time as it was just there, and it wasn't that expensive (comparing to others), I decided to get one, and I loved it. Can't descrive the taste, but it was very, very good. Regreted to have bought only one. By the way, it was the green type. Also saved the seeds to plant.
Another that decided to buy, was the Salacca. It was labeled (from the origin) as S. zalacca, but it definitely wasn't that species! I think it is S. wallichiana (it would be great if someone could confirm, or trow the correct ID), and bought it just to compare with S. zalacca, that I tried 2 years ago. I had read the this species was inferior, in almost everything, to S. zalacca, but wanted to have my own opinion, and ended up very happy to had pick that, as for me these are much better than than S. zalacca, only loosing for the size, that is almost half of the other. It is much more Juicier, sweet and has very good perfume; in the other hand is less crunchier. I got most fruits with a single lobe, but also some with 2 lobes and one with 3 lobes. Will plant them separated as I read somewhere that seeds from 3 lobed fruits are more prone to produce female plants.

Also got Sugar apple, and some longans, and these last ones, surprised me because they were a little bit bigger than the ones that I had before (some were almost the size of lychees), but also the seeds were much bigger than the ones that I'm used to eat; also the skin was quite thicker, much more than the 2 other varieties that I already had; and finnaly, another surprise was the size of leaves, as it had one leave with it, and comparing with the leaves from my plants, they are less than half the size.












« Last Edit: April 17, 2017, 05:52:40 PM by Grapebush »
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fruitlovers

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Re: First taste of Durian and some other tropical fruits
« Reply #1 on: April 13, 2017, 12:36:42 AM »
You reminded me that i had my first taste of lychees in Paris. At that time i had no idea what they were but decided to give it a go. It was love after that. HAHA
Really good cultivars of durians have aborted seeds, and a very good pulp to seed ratio. The good part of getting large seeds is you will be able to start plants easily.
Yes caimitos (starapple) is a highy under rated fruit. They can be quite excellent at their prime.
The photo of salak you posted looks like wallichiana. But in Thatiland, where it probably came from, they have some very good hybrid crosses. I would guess that is what that is.
That longan looks unusual. Longan seeds are usually black, not brown like in your photo.
Oscar

Grapebush

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Re: First taste of Durian and some other tropical fruits
« Reply #2 on: April 17, 2017, 06:15:42 PM »
You reminded me that i had my first taste of lychees in Paris. At that time i had no idea what they were but decided to give it a go. It was love after that. HAHA
Really good cultivars of durians have aborted seeds, and a very good pulp to seed ratio. The good part of getting large seeds is you will be able to start plants easily.
Yes caimitos (starapple) is a highy under rated fruit. They can be quite excellent at their prime.
The photo of salak you posted looks like wallichiana. But in Thatiland, where it probably came from, they have some very good hybrid crosses. I would guess that is what that is.
That longan looks unusual. Longan seeds are usually black, not brown like in your photo.

Thank you very much for your reply Oscar.
It's nice to know that Paris also had some importance in your tropical fruit adventure.
You're right about the Durian seeds, It's a bit deceptive to have a so big amount of fruit being seeds, but also that provides you nice healthy seeds to start some trees, and if the offspring is at least as good as this one was, I would be very happy. And they're already germinating!
About the starapple, I can't wait for the next opportunity to get another fruit, and to eventually have a producing tree.
It is nice to know that I wasn't completely wrong about the Sallaca ID, and yet better to know that there are hybrids of that genus that can be so good. Just hope one of the plants will one day produce something as good as these fruits I had. By the way, you were right about the origin of the fruits; it came from Thailand, from the same supplier of the Durian (SiamFresh).
About the Longans, I was as surprised as you, by the seed color, the size, the skin and everything else. Could it also be an hybrid? They were absolutely sweet and juicy; the hands were sticking with the juice... With these big seeds, I expect some vigorous seedlings, let's see if my theory confirms.
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Finca La Isla

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Re: First taste of Durian and some other tropical fruits
« Reply #3 on: April 17, 2017, 11:41:44 PM »
The salak certainly looks like Wallichiana.  If it was a hybrid you'd think it would look a little different, hybrid with what, and does that really work?  I have wallichiana and I have had some decent, very ripe fruits from it though it has a bad reputation here.
Speaking of hybrids, I have wallichiana, salacca, and affinis all growing together in one small area.  Does anyone think these would hybridize naturally?
Peter

fruitlovers

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Re: First taste of Durian and some other tropical fruits
« Reply #4 on: April 18, 2017, 04:50:00 AM »
You reminded me that i had my first taste of lychees in Paris. At that time i had no idea what they were but decided to give it a go. It was love after that. HAHA
Really good cultivars of durians have aborted seeds, and a very good pulp to seed ratio. The good part of getting large seeds is you will be able to start plants easily.
Yes caimitos (starapple) is a highy under rated fruit. They can be quite excellent at their prime.
The photo of salak you posted looks like wallichiana. But in Thatiland, where it probably came from, they have some very good hybrid crosses. I would guess that is what that is.
That longan looks unusual. Longan seeds are usually black, not brown like in your photo.

Thank you very much for your reply Oscar.
It's nice to know that Paris also had some importance in your tropical fruit adventure.
You're right about the Durian seeds, It's a bit deceptive to have a so big amount of fruit being seeds, but also that provides you nice healthy seeds to start some trees, and if the offspring is at least as good as this one was, I would be very happy. And they're already germinating!
About the starapple, I can't wait for the next opportunity to get another fruit, and to eventually have a producing tree.
It is nice to know that I wasn't completely wrong about the Sallaca ID, and yet better to know that there are hybrids of that genus that can be so good. Just hope one of the plants will one day produce something as good as these fruits I had. By the way, you were right about the origin of the fruits; it came from Thailand, from the same supplier of the Durian (SiamFresh).
About the Longans, I was as surprised as you, by the seed color, the size, the skin and everything else. Could it also be an hybrid? They were absolutely sweet and juicy; the hands were sticking with the juice... With these big seeds, I expect some vigorous seedlings, let's see if my theory confirms.
Durian is one of the most expensive fruits because the pulp to waste ratio is one of the worst of all fruits. It's not just the seeds but also the heavy rind. I posted about this before. In the chanee that i tested i got 28% edible portion and 72% compost (seeds and rinds) by weight.
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=13525.msg171416#msg171416
« Last Edit: May 25, 2017, 04:31:23 AM by fruitlovers »
Oscar

Rannman

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Re: First taste of Durian and some other tropical fruits
« Reply #5 on: May 24, 2017, 03:37:26 AM »
Not sure how many of you are on instagram, but you might be interested to see a video of someone roasting a whole Durian over a gas burner! I've never tried durian so I'm not sure what roasting it would achieve. Check out chasing_delicious on instagram.
I know the name sounds a bit weird, but it's all tropical fruits etc.

LivingParadise

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Re: First taste of Durian and some other tropical fruits
« Reply #6 on: May 24, 2017, 10:34:48 AM »
In my experience, green caimito was sort of like a cross between grape and lychee, but a bit more mild, and less aromatic. Very pleasant. Maybe more like a longan, but with more of a gelatinous texture. Not my favorite, but certainly worth growing to me. My seed didn't take from my last one, so I'm looking forward to trying again.

Grapebush

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Re: First taste of Durian and some other tropical fruits
« Reply #7 on: May 25, 2017, 05:27:43 PM »
Not sure how many of you are on instagram, but you might be interested to see a video of someone roasting a whole Durian over a gas burner! I've never tried durian so I'm not sure what roasting it would achieve. Check out chasing_delicious on instagram.
I know the name sounds a bit weird, but it's all tropical fruits etc.

I'm not sure what it will deliver as taste, but as it is a fruit I can't find here, and I need to travel and still need some luck to find it, I don't think I would risk to do it... Maybe one day IF my seeds become nice trees, IF they adapt to the climate and IF they become prolific producers, I would try it...

In my experience, green caimito was sort of like a cross between grape and lychee, but a bit more mild, and less aromatic. Very pleasant. Maybe more like a longan, but with more of a gelatinous texture. Not my favorite, but certainly worth growing to me. My seed didn't take from my last one, so I'm looking forward to trying again.

The one I ate, didn't match your taste description; it was maybe more like a very good Annona with a hint of something else, but definitely very good. The good news for me is that at least one of my seeds is germinating, so maybe one day I would be able to eat my own starapple...
Life is all about learning, but sometimes, the more you learn, the less you seem to know...