Durian, what’s that? It is a fascinating fruit that grows in southeast Asia and other tropical areas that has painful spines on its skin (ouch!) and tastes like…..onion pudding (huh?). I have also heard people characterize the taste as garlic custard, vanilla almond pudding, etc. The smell is, well, one of the most unusual smells that I have ever experienced from a fruit. Rick is so repelled by the smell that he has asked me to keep durian on our back porch and not in the house.
It is very rare that I eat durian. In fact, I have not had durian since Rick and I presented at a retreat in Hawaii in 2005. I consider durian to be a fun treat whenever I have it and actually enjoy the unusual taste. Here at the Woodstock Fruit Festival, there is lots of durian :):
It is tricky to open this fruit and before I opened my first durian years ago, I had to educate myself well on how to do so to avoid hurting myself with the spines on the skin. Here is a photo of durian pulp on the inside of the spiny husk:
Here is a photo of durian pulp removed from the husk:
Here is a nutrient analysis of two cups of durian pulp:
| Nutrient | Durian, two cups of edible pulp, seeds & husk removed (486 g) | Adult Daily Values |
| Calories | 714.4 | |
| Protein | 7.14 g | |
| Fat | 25.9 g | |
| Carbohydrate | 131.7 g | |
| Beta-carotene | 111.8 mcg | |
| Thiamin (Vitamin B1) | 1.82 | 1.1 – 1.2 mg |
| Riboflavin (Vitamin B2) | 0.97 | 1.1 – 1.3 mg |
| Niacin (Vitamin B3) | 5.22 | 14 – 16 mg |
| Calcium | 29.2 | 1000 – 1200 mg |
| Iron | 2.09 | 8 – 18 mg |
| Magnesium | 145.8 | 310 – 420 mg |
| Potassium | 2119.0 | 4700 mg |
| Zinc | 1.36 | 8 – 11 mg |
For the calories consumed, durian is not as nutrient dense as some of the other foods that we have profiled on this blog, such as certain leafy greens. Also note the fat content of durian, it has more fat per calorie than other fruits, with a notable exception: avocado. I have yet to find a source for the omega 3 and 6 content of durian.
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