Indonesian Thornless Durian
Indonesia grows thornless durians after 12 years of experimenting
Officially named as Durian Gundul
The Durian. It's known as the King of Fruits due to its pungent smell and divisive taste. But what makes the durian iconic apart from its unbearable stench and unique taste is its appearance. It's (usually) covered entirely with thorns! That was until recently. Indonesia recently dropped a bombshell (or shall we call it a durian shell?).
According to Mongabay Indonesia, its agricultural officials revealed that they've succeeded in growing a durian tree that bears thornless fruits. Shaped like a melon and being noticeably smooth, the thorns on this durians are extremely unnoticeable. If you had trouble cutting open its thorny cousins, this fella is extremely easy to open. The creation process of the thornless durian variant began in 2007 in Trenggaluh Village near Mount Rinjani. The local agricultural team took grafts from a durian tree that had sprouted a bald variant of the fruit. The owner of the tree, a family, was suspicious of the fruit to the point that they thought the durian was poisonous. However, curiosity got the better of the owner's son who decided to try the durian out. Turns out, the fruit tasted exactly like its regular cousin.
The seeds of these durians were used to cultivate more such versions. According to Maisin, only two percent of the seeds blossomed and they've been named Durian Gundul. Based on observation, these unique variant are believed to be a result of a recessive gene of the female and male flowers that tend to grow when they're close to each other. So from the 40 grafts, Indonesia's agricultural team managed to cultivate a whopping 23,000 seedlings. These seedlings were sent to other agricultural centres to be planted.
Indonesia’s Efforts to Grow Thornless Durian Bear Fruit
The flesh of the thornless durian is a lot more thinner and tastes much more sweeter
The durian is known as the “King of Fruits” thanks to its unique, complex flavours and the crown of thorns at the base of its stem. Eating the famously pungent fruit means having to get past its hard and spiky exterior to the golden, creamy flesh inside. But what if that didn’t have to be the case?
In December, agricultural officials in Indonesia announced that they had succeeded in cultivating a durian tree that bears thornless fruit after trying for more than a decade. These melon-like durians are brown and are either completely smooth or possess only small thorns that aren’t sharp. Its skin is thinner and easier to break than regular durians, while the flesh is said to be thin and sweet. The effort started in 2007, when officials at the local agricultural office in Lombok took grafts from a tree in Trenggaluh Village near Mount Rinjani that had sprouted bald durians.
The family that owned the tree were initially afraid to eat the unusual fruit, thinking they might be poisonous. But when the tree bore more smooth-skinned durians the following season, the owner’s son decided to try one and discovered that it tasted like a regular durian. After they were informed of the strange fruit, agricultural officials came to take cuttings that were then grafted onto a tree in the backyard of their complex in the hopes that it would bear bald durians. It would take them 12 years and many more cuttings to achieve what they had set out to do.
Thornless Durians (Or, Is It Just “An”?) Is Now A Thing After 12 Years Of Experiment In Indonesia
Greetings! As Malaysians, we know and love durians, and the heavenly season is just around the corner. That’s right, the creamy and aromatic (pungent, to some) fruit will be ours to feast! One of the trickiest parts of eating durians is none other than opening it. With all the thorns on every part of the surface, it is clearly not an easy task. Well, what if thornless durians exist? That would be a game-changer, for sure.
First reported by Mashable South East Asia, Mongabay Indonesia, stated that they have finally managed to grow durians without thorns after experimenting for more than a decade. To be precise, it took 12 years to grow. Usually, durians can be recognised with its green shell with thorns all over. Now, the new fruit appears to be smooth, almost like a melon. Apart from the change of exterior, the report stated that the new type of durian has a thinner shell, and the fruit itself is much sweeter. Well, how did this experiment started? It kicked off in 2007 at Trenggaluh Village near Mount Rinjani. Initially, the owner of the durian tree thought that the fruit itself was poisonous until they took the very first bite. It tasted like a normal durian, and the rest is history.
Officially named as Durian Gundul, more than 23,000 seedlings were managed to be cultivated by the agricultural team to create more variations. However, this is not the first time thornless durians were grown. Back in the 1950s, the Philippines had succeeded in making thornless durians as well. When it is available in Malaysia, will you get your hands on these smooth durians?
Nobody Wants Bald, Thornless Durians But Scientists Are Pushing To Make More Anyway
The bald, thornless durian fruit found in Lombok
The thorns are such an integral part of the King of Fruits. After all, its name comes from these sharp spokes that literally put the duri (thorn) in durian. Battling this spiky shell is half the joy of eating durian, almost as if you’ve battled to earn the right to the sweet, custardy flesh within. But it turns out, a thornless version of the durian exists!
According to South China Morning Post (SCMP), the existence of this bald durian was first recorded in 2007. Durian gundul, as it’s called in Indonesia, was spotted growing alongside its thorny brothers, on a villager’s tree at Lombok. The singular bald fruit dangled from the tree, puzzling its owners. They were apprehensive of eating the fruit, fearing that it might be poisonous and let it be. The next durian season, however, the thornicularly-challenged fruit reared its head again. Curious, the owner’s son cut open the fruit to taste the flesh, only to discover that it tasted just like any other durian.
As it turns out, the thornless durian wasn’t limited to Indonesia alone. The city of Davao in the Philippines is also a producer of thornless durians. Even the Philippines’ tourism website proudly proclaims that “the Philippines has the only truly Thornless Durian, a kind that you won’t find anywhere else!” A durian blog called Year of the Durian describes it resembles kampung durian with a sweet, sugary taste.
Durians without spikes excite scientists, but discovery frustrates them as they struggle to reproduce bald version of the smelly ‘king of fruit’
There are two things the durian fruit is famous for: a smell that has been described as anything from old socks to dead cats, and its spiky skin that makes handling it such a hazard. What if the legendary “king of fruit” had none of those infamous spikes? Such an anomaly does exist – in the form of the rare and peculiar durian gundul, or bald durian, which was discovered more than a decade ago in Indonesia.
Scientists have been unable to explain how the bald durian came into existence. According to botanist Gregori Garnadi Hambali, it may be either the result of a natural mutation or recessive genes. “The chances of this happening are very small … only one in a million,” says Hambali, who works at the Mekarsari Fruit Garden, a biodiversity conservation centre in Bogor, south of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. The first bald durian was recorded in 2007 on the island of Lombok, east of Bali. A single smooth fruit sprouted on a tree in a villager’s yard on the slopes of Mount Rinjani, along with a host of regular spiked durians. The family were initially afraid to eat the fruit, concerned that it might be poisonous. The following season, when the tree bore another bald durian, the owner’s son decided to taste it, and discovered that it tasted just like any other durian.
The finding was reported to local agriculture officials who, after visiting to inspect the tree, returned to take cuttings. They grafted one onto a tree in the backyard of their complex, hoping that it would produce more of the strange fruit. It took the agriculture office 12 years and many more grafts to get the result they had been looking for. “Thank God. From 50 trees … one finally bore bald durian fruit. People don’t call bald durians a hoax any more,” Maisin, the head of seed inspection and certification in West Nusa Tenggara province, said.
Thornless durian has no market
The Department of Agriculture (DA)-Davao is discouraging farmers to plant in large-scale the Thornless durian variety as it has no market locally and even internationally.
Few trees of Thornless durian variety are now conserved in the germplasm area of DA-Bureau of Plant Industry (DA-BPI) in Davao City. However, DA reiterated that it has no potential for business so they do not recommend this kind of variety to farmers in the region. “We do not encourage farmers because we want them to go into expansion where they could earn income. We give assistance to them by recommending varieties with potential market like Puyat durian variety,” DA-Davao focal person Noel Provido said in an interview with SunStar Davao.
“This variety is not sustainable because its taste cannot compete with other varieties of durian. And you know the consumers, they want to get their money’s worth so the meat and the taste of durian really matter,” he added.
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Are durians bad for health? Why drink salt water after eating the fruit?
Before you think of buying a whole box of durian mooncakes, be advised that people may be out to cheat you and that it is going to add more fat to your body than eating the fruit itself. Durian season lasts from June to anywhere well into October and people have been known to pay top dollar for premium varieties of the tropical fruit.
Singaporeans’ passion for the king of fruits can also be seen from their interest in novel durian-infused food — durian shakes, durian hotpot, durian coated with batter and deep-fried, durian paste piped into pastries and wrapped in glutinous rice balls, the list goes on. Their love affair with durian extends even to their dating preferences.
A new survey done by Bumble, a dating and social networking application, revealed that more than half of the Singaporeans polled were likely to consume durian this year, with one in five indicating their expectation to savour the fruit while on a date. Another interesting finding was that almost one in three (29 per cent) of durian fans would turn down someone they are romantically interested in if the person did not like the fruit, which is known for its pungent smell and rich flavours that range from sweet to bitter. The survey, done in April this year, polled 500 single people in Singapore aged 18 to 42.
Hail to the King of Fruits
It’s been compared to rotting flesh, bad cheese and skunk urine. It’s often banned in hotels and public transport throughout Southeast Asia. Its flesh is fragrant enough to attract monkeys a mile away. Yet after a few evenings spent with my friend Audran, getting to know the much-vilified fruit better, durian is fast becoming my favorite fruit.
Hail to the king! There’s no denying durian has a strong smell. As soon as its shell cracks and it starts to ripen, the stench will fill the air faster than a fart. In a crowded elevator, things get downright hostile. The stink some North Americans associate with Chinatown is often due to the pungent fruit alone: you’d be hard-pressed to distinguish durian and rotten meat in a blind smell test. But don’t let the olfactory assault detract you: some of the best things in life can give off quite a stench. There’s nothing quite like the dirty socks smell of an old, runny Camembert, yet the French express only love for their cheese. Likewise, we generally do not turn up our nose on a fine Sauerkraut, or the mature bitterness of a stout beer.
But introduce an unfamiliar food that stinks, and suddenly you hear “garbage”, “rotting meat” or “gym sock”; we reserve words such as “complex”, “pungent” and “commanding” only for the stinks we have grown with. Leave your inhibitions behind! Embrace the stink!
The King of Fruits in Space
Thailand to send durians to space
The Thai government’s space research agency — yes, we have one — is aiming to send baked durians to space in July, as a part of their research to produce Thai food suited for consumption in space.
Dr. Ammarin Pimnoo of the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA) presented their “Thai Food to Space” project to media yesterday and revealed packages of baked durians ready to be shipped off the earth.
The space-friendly durians were developed by two private companies — Daily Food Ltd. and Signature Marketing Co. Ltd. — and the durian species they chose is Monthong, arguably the most delicious variety from Thailand.
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