Here are my enthusiastic devourer's guide.
How to tell the smelly damn thing is ripe:
How to tell the smelly damn thing is ripe:
- Smell the front end (the opposite of where the stem or part where the fruit is attached to the tree), it should smell like a Durian when ripe.
- Take two adjacent thorns and press them towards each other, it should be easy to do when ripe.
- Take hold of a thorn and push towards the Durian, it should feel like pressing on rubber.
How to open the ripe fruit with disgusting aroma:
- Find the line. It is a line that goes from end to tip and looks like a trail left by termites. It is often in a slightly different shade from the skin. Hard to find? From an arm's length see if you can see the thorn that appears to be forming a line from end to tip, the line is often, but not always, in the middle.
- Stick the a point somewhere on the line with a knife to about 1/2 cm, it should penetrate easily like it would in a papaya or mango or banana or pear (or other soft, thin skinned fruit). NOTE: If the knife does not go in easily, find another point on the line. If that does not work, look for another line. If that still does not work, maybe the fruit is not ripe.
- Twist the knife. The fruit should open up a bit, continue along up/down the line.
- Repeat with the other line.
