What Does Durian Taste Like?

Durian (Durio zibethinus) is a large, spiky Southeast Asian fruit with soft, pale yellow pulp around big seeds. It is prized across Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, and it reaches most Western buyers frozen, as paste, or already turned into candy, ice cream and pastries.

Taste and smell are two different things

In the mouth, durian is sweet, rich and soft, closer to a custard than to most fruit. People pick out caramel, honey and sometimes almond. Through the nose it is fruity at first, then oniony, sulfurous and, to many people, rotten. Most people who eat durian say the taste is far gentler than the smell.

That gap has a chemical cause. The sweetness and body come from the pulp. The smell comes from a small set of extremely potent volatile compounds, and most of the unpleasant ones contain sulfur.

What makes the smell

Food chemists in Freising, Germany, screened Thai Monthong durian and found 44 odor-active compounds. Next to fruity esters sat honey-like ethyl cinnamate, caramel-like furanones and a long list of onion and sulfur compounds.¹ They then measured odor activity values: the amount present divided by the smallest amount people can smell.

In recombination tests, just two of these, the fruity ester and the roasted-onion thiol, mimicked the overall odor of durian pulp at their natural levels.² That is the whole durian paradox in two molecules.

Ripeness matters. The same group found that durian pulp contains ethionine, which the fruit turns into ethanethiol. Both rose as the fruit ripened.³ A riper durian is a smellier durian.

Why durian products are toned down

Durian candy, wafers and ice cream are usually much milder than the fresh fruit. Part of that is choice and part is chemistry.

The choice is commercial. Full-strength sulfur is the main barrier for people who have not grown up eating durian, and the two-compound result gives a flavorist a clear dial. Turn the thiol down and you keep the fruity, custardy side.

The chemistry is volatility. Methanethiol is a gas at room temperature, and ethanethiol boils at about 35 °C. Heating and drying drive these off ahead of the heavier caramel and honey notes. That is one reason baked and dried durian products smell milder than fresh pulp. See heat stability.

Turn the sulfur down too far, though, and durian stops being durian. With only the ester and the caramel left, it reads as a vague tropical custard close to mango or banana. Decide how much durian your buyer actually wants and test with people who know the fruit.

Working with it

• Give it fat. Durian is a dairy and coconut flavor. Ice cream, custards and coconut milk carry it best.
• Pair it the way it is eaten. Sticky rice, coconut and pandan are the reference points.
• Expect variety differences. Thai Monthong is usually described as milder and sweeter. Malaysian Musang King is usually described as stronger and more bittersweet.
• Do not confuse it with jackfruit. The two look alike in the market, but jackfruit smells fruity and gum-like, with no sulfur. For a floral tropical with only a trace of sulfur, see lychee.