The fruit is extremely popular and loved by many in Southeast Asia, but the smell alone has put off many newcomers. I am glad I was able to get over the initial unpleasant smell to really appreciate Durians unique, exquisite taste. The spiky fruit's flavor and creamy texture has made it popular throughout Southeast Asia, but its infamous odor has gained it many detractors. California Do Not Sell My Info Why does it smell good to some and bad to others? The fruit changes significantly over a very short period of time. durian fruit, sense, smell; Asked by 09jhodge to Darren on 9 Mar 2012. Durio zibethinus is the only species available in the international market: other species are sold in their local regions. Cookie Policy 12 postal workers complained of nausea, six were sent to hospital as a precaution, 6 ambulances and 7 other emergency vehicles rushed to the scene over the durian fruit smell. Bringing Durian Fruit is one of them! Durian fruit stink prompts university evacuation. Durian fruit is well known for it's very strong smell. It can be smelled from yards away." Some liken the smell of durian to burning tyres – but once you’ve had a good one, you’ll understand the fever Durian: a tropical fruit with a divisive smell and devoted fans. There is no fruit quite like the durian, which has the appeal to entice even as it repulses. The smell of durian is perhaps the hardest thing to explain about this fruit, and even though it sounds cliché, this is one of those aromas that you have to experience and smell for yourself to determine what it smells like. Now, in a new study in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, a group of scientists from the German Research Center for Food Chemistry has attempted to figure out how exactly the fruit produces such a powerful stench. The taste of Durian fruit really is a sweet creamy custard flavour that is just so delicious. Durian fruit: A smell so rotten, a taste so sweet Why the world's best mathematicians are hoarding chalk The sibling rivalry behind Adidas versus Puma Searching for the oldest pub in the world The spiky fruit's flavor and creamy texture has made it popular throughout Southeast Asia, but its infamous odor has gained it many detractors. Durian lovers say it has a sweet, custardy taste, with the texture of creamy cheesecake. Police, firefighters and emergency services were called to a post office in the Bavarian town of Schweinfurt on Saturday after staff noticed the smell coming from a package. CTN News . Terms of Use Its aroma has been compared to raw sewage, rotting flesh and smelly gym socks. According to a 2009 Japanese study, durian extract strongly inhibits the enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH), used by the liver to break down alcohol. or Due to its unusual smell, the durian fruit has gained a cult following and has a huge reputation among those brave enough to try it. It maybe unpleasant to some but not to those who are familiar with durians. Their analysis suggests that it is not any single compound but instead the mixture of different chemicals that produces the fruit’s powerful stench. Get the best of Smithsonian magazine by email. Food writer Richard Sterling has written “its odor is best described as…turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock. on. I'd go the ice cream route if you're apprehensive, though. In breaking down aroma extract, taken from Thai durians, with a mass spectrometer and gas chromatograph, the team, led by Jia-Ziao Li, pinpointed 50 discrete compounds in the fruit responsible for its uncommon aroma. Those compounds included eight that hadn’t been detected in durians before—and four compounds that had been completely unknown to science. Roughly the size of a coconut or cantaloupe, and often even bigger, the durian fruit is green and spiky on the outside, with a soft flesh on the inside. If you’ve smelled a durian even once, you probably remember it. The durian may be banned in hotels and on public transport in several countries across the region, but the stinky Southeast Asian fruit is only growing in popularity Anthony Bourdain calls it “indescribable, something you will either love or despise…Your breath will smell as if you’d been French-kissing your dead grandmother.” The fruit’s flesh is sometimes eaten raw, or is cooked and used to flavor a number of traditional Southeast Asian dishes and candies. Some describe the flesh as tasting similar, but fans of the fruit describe it as having notes of almond and with a custard-like texture. banned on the Singapore Rapid Mass Transit, Our “Off the Road” blog profiled a pair of intrepid travelers, Study Rewrites History of Ancient Land Bridge Between Britain and Europe, For the Only Person Ever Hit by a Meteorite, the Real Trouble Began Later, Tens of Thousands of 12,000-Year-Old Rock Paintings Found in Colombia, Animals Are Using Utah's Largest Wildlife Overpass Earlier Than Expected, Why Iceland's Christmas Witch Is Much Cooler (and Scarier) Than Krampus, Megalodons, the Ocean's Most Ferocious Prehistoric Predators, Raised Their Young in Nurseries, Hegra, an Ancient City in Saudi Arabia Untouched for Millennia, Makes Its Public Debut, Why the P-47 Thunderbolt, a World War II Beast of the Airways, Ruled the Skies, In Australia, Just One Wasp Can Ground an Airplane With a Strategically Placed Nest, The Distinctive ‘Habsburg Jaw’ Was Likely the Result of the Royal Family’s Inbreeding, Twelve Board Games You Can Play With Friends From Afar, The Inspiring Quest to Revive the Hawaiian Language, The New Science of Our Ancient Bond With Dogs, Why Seagrass Could Be the Ocean's Secret Weapon Against Climate Change. The entire building was evacuated, with around 60 employees forced to leave, before the package was carefully examined. When it is harvested … Even apart from the smell, durians are a scientific marvel. Those who like the durian fruit in all probability love the smell too which they call as “aroma”. Smithsonian Institution. It's not the first time durian has caused a panic. It's namely dealt with the smell at that point and all you get is the sweet deliciousness that is durian. 2 months ago. “The flesh is as white as snow, exceeds in delicacy of taste of all our best European fruits, and none … Image via Wikimedia Commons/Steve Bennett. It’s also used in traditional Asian medicine, as both an anti-fever treatment and a aphrodisiac. One smells onion-y, the other fruit. Durian is a tropical fruit distinguished by its large size and spiky, hard outer shell. I was enjoying eating this fruit almost every day and felt my health benefited so much from consuming this fruit. 2. Durians have a notorious aroma likened to rotting meat, turpentine and gym socks. Vote Now! I'm most familiar with processed durian in ice creams or frozen. The fruit from Southeast Asia is said to at best smell like rotten onions. "Due to the unknown content, it was initially unclear whether the suspect package posed a greater risk," a statement from Schweinfurt police department explained. Durians are banned on Signapore’s mass transit, among other public places, because of their potent scent. “It's like a box of chocolates, but a bad box of chocolates” Check out more awesome videos at BuzzFeedVideo! Durian Fruit Smell Triggers Evacuation of German Post Office. The durian, a husked tree fruit from Southeast Asia, may smell unspeakably terrible, but it still tastes sweet and delicious like its closely related cousin, the jackfruit. Durian is popular in Southeast Asia, but its smell puts a lot of people off. Flavors often attributed to the durian fruits are caramel and vanilla. The Durian's smell can resemble many things such as smelly cheese, dirty socks, vomit, rotten onions, antiseptic, cat pee, pig poo, and toilets! The pungent smell of Durian is so strong that the fruit is banned in many hotels, and on public transport across Asia. "A total of twelve postal workers who complained of nausea had to be taken care of on site," police in Schweinfurt said, adding that six were taken to the hospital as a precaution. Esters are chemicals that produce fruity smells like the pineapple aroma. It’s … One might say it smells like sewage mixed with gasoline. It is native to Borneo and Sumatra. By. In fact, durian is known as the world’s smelliest fruit, and it has even been banned in some public spaces because of its smell. According to the Spruce Eats, the smell of durian has been described as being like “dirty gym socks, rotten egg, cut onions, manure, and roadkill.” The strong odor of the fruit is thought to be attributed to the presence of sulfur compounds (like those … Our “Off the Road” blog profiled a pair of intrepid travelers on a year-long journey planned around tasting different varieties of durian. Published. Australia's largest durian farm is expected to produce around 20 tonnes of fruit this season, up from 5 tonnes Durians are regarded as the 'king of fruits', but many find their smell offensive Now, new research has found that an amino acid plays a role in giving the durian fruit its notorious smell. Privacy Statement Even with the husk intact, the notorious Asian fruit has such a potent stench that it’s banned on the Singapore Rapid Mass Transit. Durian Fruit – Banned from public! Joseph Stromberg was previously a digital reporter for Smithsonian. It's native to Southeast Asia, and its smell has been likened to " And what does it really taste like? You can’t do lots of things on the Singapore Metro. This might account for a piece of traditional Asian folklore: that getting intoxicated while eating durians can lead to death. Sounds inviting, right? So, why does the durian smell so strong? Many hotels, subways, and public spaces in Southeast Asia advertise a no-durian-fruit policy with signs of the spiky fruit crossed out in red. Six ambulances, five first-responder cars and two emergency vehicles attended the incident. Keep up-to-date on: © 2020 Smithsonian Magazine. It can be smelled from yards away.”. Despite its smell, people consume the fruit raw or incorporate it into recipes and enjoy its creamy consistency and sweet flavor. Durian fruit is a large fruit with custard-like flesh and a hard, spiky shell. Good smelling chemicals like esters (such butanoates, cinnamates, and propanoates) were also found in the durian fruit. Somehow, the combination of these 50 chemicals produces the powerful scent that has entranced and repulsed people the world over. It has a smelly, custard-like flesh with large seeds. Durian fruit has been making headlines recently for a very bizarre (and very stinky) reason: Two Australian libraries have been evacuated in the last month after patrons mistook the fruit’s foul odor for a gas leak. There are 30 recognised Durio species, at least nine of which produce edible fruit, with over 300 named varieties in Thailand and 100 in Malaysia, as of 1987. When picking out a durian fruit to buy, locals will first smell it, the stronger it smells, the better it will taste! Darren Logan answered on 9 Mar 2012: This is a great question! The smell of the durian fruit is commonly described as something between incredibly bad foot odour, a dirty nappy – and vomit. And in November 2018, a cargo of durian caused an Indonesian plane to be temporarily grounded after passengers complained about the fruit's room-clearing stench in the cabin. Singapore has prohibited the fruit in its subway system, and many hotels ban durians because of the smell -- which some critics have likened to rotten food or dirty socks. June 24, 2020. The smell of durian fruit is distinctive, lingering, and persistent; the odor penetrates into fabric and remains on your hands after eating. According to researchers, durians have such a strong smell because of sulphur compounds contained in the fruit, which is also the reason why durians have such a pungent scent. If you’ve never seen a durian fruit, it’s unlikely you’d miss it as you perused the farmers market. The fruit was eventually delivered to its intended recipient. It's harder to smell when it's cold and it's a … It turned out to contain four Thai durian fruits, which a 50-year-old resident of the town had sent home from a friend in Nuremberg. Image via Wikimedia Commons/Kalai, If you’ve smelled a durian even once, you probably remember it. Give a Gift. Three different fire departments were also involved. I can’t tell you for sure why Durian has such a different affect on people exactly, but there is something else that smells bad to some people and not to others and I would guess its for the same reason. Durian's odor has been described as resembling dirty gym socks, rotten egg, cut onions, manure, and roadkill. By Rob Picheta and Frederik Pleitgen, CNN. Durian is a fruit from Southeast Asia that’s famous for its large size, its thick and spiky shell, and its pungent smell and potent flavor. What is Durian Fruit? It smells like a rotten egg/cheese or natural gas mixed with cream cheese and onion. The researchers also found a compound called 5-Hydroxy-methyl-furfural (5-HMF) in durian shells and durian seeds. What’s interesting is that none of the compounds individually seem to match with the characteristic durian smell—they range widely, and include labels like fruity, skunky, metallic, rubbery, burnt, roasted onion, garlic, cheese, onion and honey. How can such an esteemed and expensive fruit smell so bad? This fruit that shall not be named is none other than durian, of course. The researchers published their results in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry . Either you hate it, or you love it, but everyone who’s tried it has an opinion on the durian fruit. The durian is the fruit of several tree species belonging to the genus Durio. What everyone can agree on is that the fruit’s odor, whether pleasant or dreadful, is uncommonly potent. Literally. Durian can be eaten raw, served with rice, or even fried. (CNN)Twelve German postal workers received medical treatment and dozens more were evacuated due to a pungent suspect package -- which turned out to be a shipment of the notoriously smelly durian fruit. A small minority, though, love the smell and taste of the fruit. Advertising Notice Continue Yeah, you read that right—this has happened two times in one month. Thai durian fruit caused pandemonium at a post office in a German town in Bavaria, … It's definitely worth a try. 17th Annual Photo Contest Finalists Announced. The compounds are identified by their chemical formulas, which are likely cryptic to anyone without a degree in organic chemistry (1-{sulfanyl}ethanethiol, for example), but the research team associated each one with a particular odor. Durian has been described as the most foul-smelling fruit in the world. The durian fruit stinks. Young vs old. A number of them have been detected in just a few other substances, such as cooked beef, yeast extract, dried squid and leeks. Last year, staff at the University of Canberra library were forced to evacuate the building due to a suspected gas leak, but a search revealed the stench was in fact caused by the fruit. Although repulsive to most, some people adore the taste and smell of Durians and are willing to pay a wealth of money for this most expensive fruit. Of the durian, food writer Richard Sterling writes (via Smithsonian Magazine), "Its odor is best described as... turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock.