Durians
are native to the tropical lands of SE
Asia: Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia,
Singapore and the Philippines. In these
countries there are vast durian orchards
and the owners are some of the
wealthiest people of the locality. The
durian tree is a big tree and as it
likes a hot and humid climate the
southern part of Myanmar is the best
place for them. Here the rains are
heavy, around 200 inches per year and it
is also hot and humid as it faces the
Andaman Sea. Durian in appearance is an
ugly fruit, spiky and hard. The smell is
awful or sweet depending on your
preference. Many foreigners liken this
smell to a shed of ripe cheese and an
outhouse combined but for those who love
this fruit it is the fragrance of
heaven. However, the majority .of hotels
and offices still do not permit durians
to be brought inside! The durian trees
are plentiful in southern Myanmar.
Many
are planted commercially in orchards and
the durian season starts from early
April until October but Myanmar people
say the fruits that grew after the rains
are less sweet because it has been
diluted with rainwater. There are many
durians on the market but Myanmar
durians are specially prized because
most are organi- cally grown. The local
durians look smaller than the ones
imported from the neigh- bouring
countries but they are natural and not
GM fruits. The flesh is deep yellow with
a pungent aroma and the seed is big.
Splitting open the fruit is very
difficult but the flesh is soft and the
taste sweet. Also there are many legends
and stories
connected
with the fruit. In southern Myanmar it
is believed that the fruits fall down
from the trees only at night to avoid
hitting people. Another belief is that
the fruit will split open if it falls on
the roots of the tree because it has
insulted its mother whereas if it falls
on the ground it will not split open.
In the
Philippines there is an interesting
story of how the 'durian got its spiky
surface and the awful smell.
As
the story goes Barom-Mai was an old,
ugly king who lived in a place called
Calinan hundreds of years ago. Although
he was powerful, he could not win the
love of his young bride, Madayaw-Bayho,
daughter of Tageb, king of the pirates.
The King
asked his advisers to help him win his
bride's love. Matimgam, the wisest
adviser, told him about Impit Purok, a
hermit who lived in a cave in Mt. Apo on
Mindanao Island. They went to see the
hermit who asked for three things: the
egg of a black tabon bird to soften the
bride's heart, '2 ladles of fresh milk
from a pure white carabao (a kind of
buffalo) to make her kind and nectar
from the flower of the Tree of Illusion
to make her see Barom Mai as a young and
handsome king.
Pawikan,
the king of the sea turtles, got the
eggs. The cook fetched the milk and
Hangin-Bai, the nymph of air, took Barom
Mai to her sister the wood nymph who had
the magic flower in her hair. So Barom
Mai was able to give Impit Purok what he
asked for. Purok mixed the three
ingredients and told Barom-Mai to plant
the mixture in the royal garden with one
condition: the King must throw a feast
after he won Madayaw-Bayho's love and
that he be invited as the monarch's
guest of honor. The morning after, a
tree grew. The resulting fruit smelled
sweet and tasted good.
When
Madayaw-Bayho was given the fruit, she
fell in love with the King. So a big
feast was held but the King forgot to
invite Impit
The
flesh
of the
durian is like gold
Purok.lmpit Purok was furious and in
revenge, he cursed the fruit- the sweet
smell was replaced with a foul odor and
the fruit's smooth skin became covered
with thorns. Thus, the durian changed
appearance and smell as we know it
today. .
So enjoy
your durian!!!!!!
Hpone
Thant is
a
regular contributor to EM and other
publications. He writes mostlyon the
country's nature, culture and
traditions. He can be reached at:
harrx@swiftiwnd s. com.m
m
