D13
It’s durian season again. Yay! For those that hate the fruit, totally understand why you guys would hate it. The pungent smells can be quite overwhelming for haters. For those that love the fruit, I am with you guys all the way.
The fruit guy at the wet market also decided to ride on the bandwagon of the twice a year durian season and decidedly stocked up on a few basket of durians for his discerning customers.
Sadly he doesn’t have the clout to get the Mao Shan Wang 猫山王 that he ordered from the durian plantation guy, and all he got were D13 which was kind of like the bottom grade of all durians (it’s so bottom-grade, they may as well freeze dry these guys and pack them into packets). Any grade lower than D13 and we might drop into the luxurious professional camera category with the D4. That one cannot eat. Likewise if someone tries to sell you a Nikon D13, they might be referring to durians.
Secretly I think the durian plantation guy doesn’t think much of the fruit guy. He could have offered something else of higher grade or at least a small selection of Mao Shan Wang. Either that or I think the fruit guy may be trying to smoke me.
So is the D13 any good compared to its more glamorous siblings? It’s not bad but only at the peak of the durian season which is now. Everything that remotely looks and tastes like durian – tastes good. The varietal differences are still noticeable of course, you can’t compare bicycle to motorcycle, but there have been shades of bitter sweetness similar to the likes of the Mao Shan Wang.
For 1 kg at $8 it is pretty pricey for the heartland fruit stall. I am sure if I scour the durian haunts they would be selling them for much lower. In fact my sources tell me that the Mao Shan Wang is now 1 kg $13 at some of the more popular places ( information accurate as at 19 June 2015).
I think I might have gotten ripped off. I only managed to yield 10 seeds out of the two D13 durians that I bought from the fruit guy. Oh well. It’s like that. At least these two that he sold me looked and tasted gorgeous. I think I might go back to him and haggle for a better price.
Bon Appetit!
Beautiful D13
My wife braving her polished nails. What sacrifice!
Most definitely worth it!