Comments on: Why Does the Durian Fruit Smell So Terrible?

By: Herbal Ed

Herbal Ed — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 19:38:45 +0000

Re. the supposed aphrodisiac property of durians: There’s an old saying in Thailand: “When the durians are falling, the sarongs are rising.”

Re. “A small minority, though, love the smell and taste of the fruit.” It’s definitely way more than a “small minority” … Here in Bangkok most of my Thai friends not only like durians … the LOVE them. For me … an American … I’ve developed a taste for them but can only eat so much. Not so much because of the odor but because they are so rich and I satiate quickly.

By: Zenstrive

Zenstrive — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 07:14:44 +0000

Everyone in Asia loves durians. Only caucasians and who pretend to be caucasians who hate durians.

By: Nona

Nona — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 05:32:50 +0000

I really love durians. I’m from Indonesia where you can find durians almost everywhere at the supermarkets.. and personally I think the smells of durian is not that bad (doesn’t like gym socks, at least :p) I love local durians, but also Thai durians because I think they had very strong taste that local durians doesn’t have. Oh my.. I think I should go grab some durian pancakes (which is very famous in here at the moment) at the nearest fruit market, like right now. LOL!
Nice article btw :)

By: didut

didut — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 05:16:39 +0000

– A small minority, though, love the smell and taste of the fruit –

Small minority?!? Mate, lot of Indonesian people will love to eat this durian once a year because this fruit not available at any season. And believe me number of Indonesia inhabitan is not small !

By: Durian Lover

Durian Lover — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 05:11:49 +0000

I LOVE DURIAN VERY MUCH <3.
I don't know y people hate durians smell. Do you guys ever try to eat the fruit?
Try…
in 1 … 2… 3 …. you forgot about your problem
in 4…..5……6…. you know that heaven exist…

-RP

By: Alderina

Alderina — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 05:06:45 +0000

I’m Indonesian and a durian lover. For me, the smell of durian is very very very very good. It’s the king of fruits!

But I understand that this sentiment is not widely common in Western countries ;)

By: Randy

Randy — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 03:08:28 +0000

The first time I went to Thailand the hotel I stayed in had a sign by the elevator that said “No Mangosteens or Durians allowed in the rooms.” I was upset to think that the hotel would not allow the ethnic minority Mangosteens and Durians the right to rent rooms in their hotel until I found out that they were fruits and not people.

By: Lindsay

Lindsay — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 20:52:44 +0000

Good to see another study on durian! For such a strange fruit, there is a surprising lack in research. I would also like to see studies on the odor of non-Thai durians, which are typically much stronger smelling than the Thai durians. The odor of other durian species is even stranger. Durio Graveolens smells to me like bubblegum and pimento cheese. Truly bizarre.

By: Barbara Piper

Barbara Piper — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 13:40:37 +0000

An predictable article that explains how the durian smells, but it does not explain why it smells “bad”. An article on why humans respond to certain smells as “bad” would be more interesting. Simply reducing a smell to a chemical formula does not tell us anything about the complex psychology of smell, or why humans react to some smells differently than other mammals do. A lost opportunity here.

By: Crocodile Chuck

Crocodile Chuck — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 05:20:59 +0000

A malaysian once explained it to me: “Like eating strawberries and cream out of a filthy commode’

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 00:32:10 +0000

Durians certainly do smell bad, but the taste? Just heavenly! One of the richest, most complex and delightful tastes in the world. Who would have thunk it?

By: Jess H

Jess H — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 23:31:36 +0000

It smells like a rotting dog corpse full of maggots in the height of summer. Despite that fact, I tried to taste it once. It tastes like spicy pineapple sorbet. A strange, strange fruit.

By: Jon

Jon — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 16:22:44 +0000

The big compound you mentioned is a sulfur compound, so that seems like a pretty big indication that something will smell funny.

So endeth my contribution to the conversation.