Dangerous Durian

Smaller Dec.-harvest durians at Green Mansion

    Evidently this is a rare year for durian, the so-called "King of Fruits".  Usually in these parts the durian season is from June through August.  But this year we're experiencing a rare situation in which there has been a second durian season in Nov.-Dec.  The last time this happened was twelve years ago, I heard.  The smallish durian in this photo are ones we were treated to when we visited the Peranakan Mansion (note the traditional tile floor).  They're significantly smaller than the regular-season ones, which can range from two to seven pounds.  The average seems to be 1.5 kilograms, or around 3.3 pounds.   
   

Durian spines or spikes

    Durian have a very hard and prickly outer husk which can be dangerous.  In some places, they like to eat it when it's still a bit firm and there they cut the fruit down from the tree.  But around here (and in Singapore) people like their durian as soft and pungent as possible, so they don't cut it down, but rather wait for the fruit to fall naturally.  There's a saying that "durian have eyes" because they don't fall when people are around and could be hurt.  It's more likely that the cooler temps at night  cause the fruit to fall. A local grower maintains that 90% of durian fall at night and only 10% during the day.  

Borrowed from:  www.yearofthedurian.com

   Nonetheless, there was a tragic story in this morning's newspaper about a woman who'd taken her beautiful one-month-old baby boy out for some air at 4:00 p.m. A two- kilogram durian fell from a 13-meter-high tree and hit the child in the head right there in his mother's arms.  The boy died and the durian was sent to a lab for testing.  The father of the child said, "I accept this tragedy as fate.  I leave the rest to Allah."  What a terrible thing to have happen!  I shows how fleeting life can be.  Everybody's thoughts and prayers are with this poor family.

   More on durian in another post on another day.