The Fruit of the Gods
The Durian, the fruit many consider an olfactory irritant, is for me the undisputed king of tropical bounty. I am a firm worshipper of the Durian. While many of the people I know despise the smell emanating from this pungent fruit, I adore the ethereal quality of its aroma. Others may squirm at the purportedly ugly, prickly fruit, but I melt at the mere sight of it, for in it I see its fair flesh, exuding with delight, as if inviting me to partake of its lush flavor, luring me into ecstasy with the smell of its seductive fragrance. -- ßeeÐee, 1998
Durian Season (Davao City, Philippines) => August-September
It is once again the Durian season, and the stalls in front of Magsaysay Park in Davao City, as well as the numerous fruit stands elsewhere, are brimming with a deluge of this wonderful tropical gift.
When August sets in, people of the mountain villages
throughout the Davao region avoid lazing underneath the lofty
trees related to the kapok, for fear that the falling spiny
globes might land on their heads and knock them to the next
dimension. They fear that they may never again enjoy the aroma
that engulfs the air whenever a fruit is opened, or taste the
luscious pulp that elicits feelings of inexplicable pleasure and
ecstasy. They fear a catastrophe.
September marks the terminal end of the Durian Season. And I am immensely gladdened that my day of nativity falls within this period. In fact, I think it may have been Divine-intervened as I could find many a similarity between myself and the Master, who is Durian (call it ipinaglihi sa duryan), not because I "smell like hell" (I must contend that the Durian DOES NOT STINK, although I bear no objection to the following phrase: "but tastes like heaven"), but because, like the Durian fruit, I have fallen many times, both literally and, well, non-literally (but who hasnt?). Nah, I shall spare you the grief this time.
The Durian is an ugly fruit, they say. Some attest to
the other-worldliness of its appearance. It does have an uncanny,
if not unique, appearance. But wait till you dig inside the fruit,
and you will in reality be transported to a different world--that
of bliss. Indeed, it is an other-worldly fruit.
Appearance-wise, it looks quite like a smaller version of Sputnik (the first man-made satellite. remember?) but unlike the 'spacefruit,' this one is greenish-brown to brown in color, and it's way smaller and lighter (didn't I say "smaller version?"). Durian images are scattered throughout this page. You should by now get what i'm talking about, unless you chose not to load the pictures.
Durians are Spiny globes of greenish brown to brown, which may weigh over a kilo, many times even more than two kilos. Inside, one will see a neat row of seeds, usually four or five, per 'chamber' (the fruit has 5 chambers), all wearing a coat of greyish to yellow pulp.
Ahhh.... the pulp! The secret behind the cult! This soft, superlatively tasty mass is the goal of my kind. It is the treasure that our fingers dig in for the tongue to fondle. The furnace that warms up our bodies, leading us into a state of heat. The flame that ignited the fires that spread the word on Davao's Durian. -- ßeeÐee, 2000
The pulp is the edible part of the Durian, although there is word that some people roast the seeds and eat the insides.
The thickness of the pulp depends on the variety of the fruit. The Chanee variety (Thai) has the thickest pulp i've seen, held and tasted. Everything seemed to be perfect until I tasted it. The taste is bland. However, many people from Manila and foreigners prefer the Thai variety because the bland pulp is somewhat "creamy," besides the fact that it yields thicker pulp in relation to seed size. Or is it otherwise: these people patronize the Chanee variety because it yields thicker pulp--which means they get more for what they paid for? I know. I know. Probably, "to each his own," eh?
But I, and many other 'natives' of Davao City and probably other 'species', prefer the local Malagkit variety because of the strong, bitter-sweet taste of its pulp. This was what i meant when I said "superlatively tasty." If you had Chanee in your mind when you were reading the quote, sorry, your fruit just doesn't fit the score.
The Malagkit Durian may yield 'thinner' pulp
but for me, and many others, it's the best. In fact, you will
feel your body heating up after only two or three seeds. Another
endearing characteristic is that the Malagkit Durian smells
stronger than the Thai variety. 
I am surprised to note, however,that some "fans" of the Durian actually hate its smell. I find this fact so odd since I consider this fruit as the most pleasurably aromatic in the world, and I thought that loving its pulp meant likewise loving its smell.
But one thing's for sure, the Durian is a fruit like no other. Its look, its smell, its taste, the sensation -- no other fruit could be as beautiful and pleasurable. It's one of the reasons why I love living in Davao. And why not, when it takes me closer to heavenly sensations.
Heaven on earth? Sex just might fit the bill. But try to lick off the pulp from a pungent Durian seed and prepare yourself for inexplicable pleasure and ecstasy.¤