Durian Treat, Selangor, MALAYSIA

I jumped at the invitation of my neighbour, Haji Jamaluddin to visit his durian orchard in Taman Melawati, close to where we stay. I have been looking forward to being at a durian orchard to sample the experience. It was the peak of the fruit season.

A solitary durian waiting to fall

To most South East Asians, durian is the king of fruits despite its strong pungent smell, much to the horror of those from the western countries. “Taste like heaven, smell like hell” is a popular remark by westerners, obviously trying to be polite to the locals.

It was a steep climb up the hill to reach the orchard. The dirt road was slippery due to the heavy rainfall the night before. The few villagers who lived there could still ride motor bikes on the road with ease. We met several people passing by carrying durian and other fruits down.

The orchard was on a steep hill-side about 1km walk from the foothill. It had an area of less than 2 acres and almost fully planted with durians of D24 variety and some jackfruit trees. Durian was the feature attraction. There were about 80 trees planted in 1983. It was purchased some times back when the price was only at a fraction of today’s cost. Haji Jamaluddin built 2 huts, one for resting and another acted as the collection centre. There was also a makeshift toilet with running water collected from nearby stream.

Haji Jamaluddin found 2 in the bush

On arrival, I could see durians caught at the lower end of the orchard at the bamboo fence. The fence was purposely built at the lowest point so that it would catch durians tumbling down the steep gradient. It worked like an automated collection point and saved the workers a lot of time looking for the fruits. According to the 2 workers, this year had been a bumper harvest.
A good pile of durians

We went around the orchard looking for fallen durians in the bush. We had to be careful as the thorny durians were still falling here and there from the tall trees. One missed Haji Jamaluddin by a few feet. In less than 2 hours we collected a big pile of fresh durians, about 50 ripe fruits. We sampled a few. Haji Jamaluddin told me that they would taste even better the next day when the flesh would ripen.

The good stuff

Cleaning away the debris

After piling up the durians at the collection hut, the workers would clean the fruits using the brush made from the coconut leaves. Otherwise, there would be too many things like leaves, soil and debris sticking to the thorns. Then they would grade the fruits according to size and perceived quality. Only experience could tell between a good and bad durian. Those that failed to make the grade would be separated to make “tempoyak”, another local delicacy.

You could see Petronas Twin Towers (KLCC) from the slope of the orchard

After spending about 3 hours at the orchard, we decided to leave. You could tell that a person had just had durians. He burped a lot and had that heavenly smell of the fruits that we love so much. To the westerners, they still smell like hell.