Durian, the king of all fruits

it's already mid-september and durian season is still at it's peak.

but then again durian is no longer a seasonal fruit.  you can find them practically anytime in fruit stands all over the city.  but all fruit loving people know that durian, like most fruits, is at its best and sweetest [not to mention at its CHEAPEST too] when it is in its original season [am i making sense or what, anyway, you all know where i'm going here].

question: is there a relation as to why we celebrate Kadayawan on the month where the now ubiquitous fruit is at it's peak season.  Durian, anyway is one of the few things our city is known for.  It is one of the symbols which we proudly carry, along with the Philippine Eagle and the Waling-waling.  anybody wanna answer that?

only in davao!

i kinda get why some people find it repulsive, thankfully i am not one of them.  my sister has headaches if she gets a whiff of the fruit, while i try not to wash with soap after eating it so i can smell my fingers every so often.  it's such a pity that a lot of people find this creamy, bittersweet, and heady fruit disgusting.  they even compare it to rotten unmentionables.

i 'pshawed' at the fact that Mario Batali, who is a world renowned chef, hates it.  and Andrew Zimmern, who is supposedly one of the most adventurous foodies ever, failed miserably not once but three times in his meeting with the king of all fruits.  That is why i adore Anthony Bourdain who is the REAL deal for me; he immerses himself in the typical-everyday-life of every city he visits, eats the food that the locals eat, in places where the locals eat them and that to me, is how we should experience places we visit.  Oh, and he loves durian too. Check out this link and pshaw with me now. =P

so i dare you to take that first step, give durian a try.  i promise you that one bite into its creamy flesh will transport you to another level of gastronomic pleasure, go ahead, close your eyes and enjoy it as it melts in your mouth and lingers in your taste buds long after.  in this case, there is nothing to fear but fear itself.

p.s. yes, you love the taste but still hate the smell, the trick is to rub your fingertips on the white, inner side of it's shell, i repeat, the white inner side of it's shell.  we don't want you bleeding now.

get rid of the smell by rubbing your fingertips against that white part of the inner shell, and no, that part can't be eaten.

note: first and last pictures from here.  middle photo is courtesy of my trusty phone camera.  Cello's Doughnuts and Dips is located at Gov. Sales St.  in front of Chimes.