Edible Durio of Sarawak

There are 31 known species of Durio.   12 species have been identified to produce edible fruits.   7 out of 12 edible species can be found in various places of Sarawak.

No	Edible Species	Distribution
1	Durio dulcis	Borneo
2	Durio grandiflorus	Borneo
3	Durio graveolens	Borneo, Malaya, Palawan, Sumatra
4	Durio kinabaluensis	Crocker Range
5	Durio kutejensis	Borneo
6	Durio lowianus	Malaya, Sumatra
7	Durio macrantha	Sumatra
8	Durio mansoni	Indochina
9	Durio oxleyanus	Borneo, Malaya, Sumatra
10	Durio testudinarius	Borneo
11	Durio wyatt-smithii	Terengganu
12	Durio zibethinus	Borneo, Sumatra

No	Other Species	Distribution
1	Durio acutifolius	Sabah, Kalimantan
2	Durio affinis	Kalimantan
3	Durio beccarianus	Borneo
4	Durio bukittrayaensis	borneo
5	Durio burmanicus	Borneo
6	Durio carinatus	Borneo, Malaya,  Sumatra
7	Durio  ceylanicus	Sri Langka
8	Durio crassipes	Tenom, Sipitang
98	Durio exceisus	Kalimantan
10	Durio griffithii	Borneo, Malaya, Sumatra
11	Durio lanceolatus	Borneo, Sumatra
12	Durio lissocarpus	Borneo
13	Durio macrolepis	Malaya
14	Durio macrophyllus	Malaya
15	Durio malaccensis	Malaya, Sumatra
16	Durio oblongus	Sarawak
17	Durio penangianus	Perak, Penang
18	Durio purpureus	Kalimantan
19	Durio singaporensis	Malaya

Pasar Borneo 2019

 unripened Durian 

( Durio zibethinus )

Unripened durian are cooked as savory dish.  It is cooked with leaves of cekur manis ( Sauropus androgynus ), with anchovies and chili, coconut milk, or made into jam !

Alium chinense 

( synonym Alium bakeri )

known as Lokio ( Sarawak) or Losun  ( Sabah ), this local Alium is consumed fresh, stir try with egg or other vegetable, or pickled.

Lasia spinosa 

known as pucuk semelaong / geli-geli / nyambing.
eaten cooked with belacan, budu or cencalok.

Plectranthus amboinicus 
( synonym Coeus amboinicus )

Bangun-bangun leaves are eaten as greens,
or used as traditional medicine.

Artocarpus odoratissimus

 Unripened tarap can be cooked as vegetable, with anchovies, or other meat.

Litsea garciae

Engkala ( Iban ) or Tebulus ( Melanau ) taste similar to avocado, yet less greasy.  Its soaked in warm water to soften the flesh, often eaten with soy source or salt. 

Engkabang Oil

Engkabang oil is extracted from the fruit of Shorea macrophylla.  It is hardened in bamboo sections, and when needed pushed out like a push-pop candy.  Then it is added to steamy hot rice, resulting in a rich buttery taste.   Priced at RM5 in the yesteryears, it is now a pricy commodity at RM25 a section.

Lihing

Lihing is a traditional rice wine for the Kadazan-Dusun people of Sabah. It was made from glutinous rice. 

Durian : The King of Fruits

“If I had to fix on two only, as representing the perfection of the two classes, I should certainly choose the durian and the orange as the king and queen of fruits.”

Alfred Russel Wallace

THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO, 1869

http://wallace-online.org/converted/pdf/1890_MalayArchipelago_S715[10th].pdf

                                                                                                                                        

NST : What's That Smell? Secrets of Famously Pungent Durian Fruit Revealed

October 9, 2017

WASHINGTON: Scientists have answered one of nature’s most pungent questions: what gives the world’s smelliest fruit its distinctive aroma.

Scientists in Singapore said on Monday they have mapped the genome of the durian, known throughout Southeast Asia as the “king of fruits” for its unique smell, flavour and formidable spiny appearance.

They identified a group of genes responsible for odour compounds called volatile sulfur compounds, and found that these genes become highly activated as the fruit ripens, driving its unusual smell.

“The durian smell has been described as a mix of an onion-like sulfury aroma with notes of sweet fruitiness and savory soup-seasoning. A key component of the durian smell are volatile sulphur compounds, or VSCs, which have been characterised as decaying, onion-like, rotten eggs, sulfury and fried shallots,” said geneticist Bin Tean Teh, deputy director of the National Cancer Center Singapore, co-leader of the study published in the journal Nature Genetics.

Unlike other plant species that typically have one or two copies of these genes, this species boasted four copies, demonstrating that VSC production is, as Teh put it, “turbocharged” in durian fruits.

The researchers said this odour may be important to the durian in the wild, helping to attract animals to eat it and disperse its seeds.

The scientists sequenced the genome of the Musang King variety of durian, discovering it has about 46,000 genes, nearly double the number in the human genome.

They were able to trace the evolution of the fruit back 65 million years, finding an ancient relationship to the cacao tree, whose seeds produce chocolate.

“Most of us in Singapore have grown up with the durian, and we are very familiar with it,” said geneticist Patrick Tan, a professor at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore. “However, even within the same family, there are individuals that love the taste, while others have learned to simply tolerate it, especially during durian season. For those who have never experienced durian before, it can indeed elicit opposing emotions of devotion and revulsion.”

The researchers said there are at least 30 other durian species, some edible, some inedible, and some with other distinctive features. Several are endangered.

Durian is economically important, with imports to China last year worth US$600 million to US$800 million, the researchers said. --REUTERS

Handling Steps for Durian Exported From Thailand : A Pictorial Guide

Elhadi M. Yahia, 2011, Postharvest Biology and Technology of Tropical and Subtropical Fruits, Volume 3, Woodhead Publishing, UK.

Durian 榴槤

There are about 30 known species of Durio. So far 9 species have been identified to produce edible fruits : D. zibethinus, D. dulcis, D. grandiflorus, D. graveolens, D. kutenensis, D. lowianus, D. macrantha, D. oxleyanus, D. testudinarum.

However, there are many species for which the fruit has never been collected or properly described and it is possible that other species with edible fruit exist.

Durio oxleyanus

Husk green. Spine slender & long. Flesh is yellow.

Durio kutejunsis
Husk yellow. Spine short. Flesh yellow, sticky, less sweet.

Durio zibethinus

Husk yellowish to green. Spine short. Flesh is white to yellow, sweet.

The name durian comes from the Malay word duri ( literally means thorn ), with a suffix -an for building a noun in Malay.

zibethinus refers to the Indian civet, Viverra zibetha.

There is disagreement regarding whether this name, refers to civets being so fond of the durian that the fruit was used as bait to entrap them, or to the durian smelling like the civet.