Before anyone thinks this is some Godzilla spoof, let me reassure you: I was the one doing the attacking of the ‘durian’…with my trusty ceramic knife:)
Is it a durian…or a jackfruit?
I was later enlightened by some helpful readers (see the comments below) who told me that the mystery behind this seemingly massive durian is that…it is in fact a jackfruit. I stand corrected…and am grateful for the great recipe tips as a bonus!
I went with some friends to Southall to get some tropical fruits and other goodies, and wound up coming back with…a GIANT spiky fruit. Here’s a picture of the back of my friend Maciek’s car:
You can see that the trunk (or boot for you UK folk) barely shut, especially since the fruit monster took up half the space.
We were very happy though to also come back with young Thai coconuts, which I can’t get in Cambridge (not yet anyway!)
But back to my jackfruit. I had never had it before and I thought I had bought a durian, which I had heard lots about. Even my teenage daughter told me how you can apparently live on durian, that’s how nutritious it is. Well I was more interested in sampling the custardy insides if I’m honest, so when I saw that the shop was down to their last fruit I grabbed it, even though it almost grabbed me.
What does a durian look like?
Well, it doesn’t look like this – this is my jackfruit, or rather this is half, and boy is it heavy! (A durian is pictured at the top of this article).
My next thought of course was…what do I do with so much of it? One can only eat a certain amount in one sitting, and as I had no intention of letting any go to waste, here’s what I did:
I immediately ate as much of it as I could. Yes it tastes a lot like vanilla custard, I am happy to report! So that part was easy.
But I still had LOADS left! So I cut all the flesh into chunks – not a mean feat – and I put some in small freezer bags to make into future smoothies, and made some vanilla custard with the rest.
A jackfruit/durian custard recipe
I blended the jackfruit pulp with a bit of lemon juice, maple syrup, some cinnamon and a hint of vanilla powder.
If you want a really thick pudding you can blend cashew nuts in too, or add a banana or two.
It’s a great dessert or breakfast. I’ve been eating it with my apple crumble (the recipe for which is here).
A durian/jackfruit chocolate shake recipe
And here’s the chocolate shake I made. I tossed the following into my blender:
a handful of almonds (soak them overnight if you don’t have a high-speed blender),
some jackfruit flesh with a banana,
some ice cubes with a bit of filtered water,
some raw chocolate powder
a splash of maple syrup,
and a small spoonful of maca (optional, read more about maca here).
My children had it for breakfast, and I’m about to have mine now as a nice chocolatey drink as an afternoon treat.
What’s the difference then between a jackfruit and a durian?
Well, apparently I’m not the only one who got confused amongst those of us who haven’t tried either fruit.
If you look at the picture of the durian at the top of this article, you’ll see that the outside is much more spiky.
And people say that jackfruit has a sweeter taste, more like pineapple, whereas durian has more of a bite to it.
Also durian is supposed to be smellier, so it’s probably a good thing that I bought a jackfruit instead because I don’t think we would have survived the 3 hour car trip back to Cambridge from London with something that is supposed to smell like rotten eggs!
Nutritional benefits of durian
For those of you who want to read up on all the nutritional benefits and culinary possibilities with durian – including a building that looks like a really giant durian that’s definitely out of a Godzilla movie(!), click here (links to Wikipedia article).
Have you had durian or jackfruit before? What did you think?
As for me, I found the jackfruit lots of fun, so I’m definitely a fan!
Not sure now though if I want to be brave enough to eat durian, but if I can get my hands on one I may have to have a go just so I can say I tried it and survived(!)
Happy eating everyone!
4 Responses to “Attack of the giant durian! Or should I say…jackfruit!”
Seet Yan
Hey, am not sure if you’ve noticed, but what you’re holding is a type jackfruit, not a durian. A durian has super sharp thorns and don’t grow up to be so big!
Barbara, The Raw Food Diva
How funny, thanks for pointing that out! We all thought it was a durian and it sure smelled like one when we opened it…I’ll have to change the text now, thanks very much! Now I know what jackfruit is hee hee:-)
Barbara Gilsenan
Seet Yan is correct – you are holding a jackfruit. I used to grow them here in Queensland Australia. Durian is smaller with much large sharper spikes and the smell can be quite sickening – until you get used to them. If you don’t like the smell pinch your nose to taste the fruit. Like onions they taste quite different when the nose is not involved in the tasting. After that they can be come addictive.
Take out the jackfruit pods, squeeze out the seeds then put in a brazil nut. Roll them in powdered cocoa then dessicated coconut. Leave in the fridge for a few hours, then eat! Delicious. I used to use the tougher arials – the rags between the pods – put it in the vitamix then when pureed use a good quantity with your favourite bread dough, spices and a little extra water and make a cake. I used to cook it with curry, but make a raw curry with the chopped rags to pour over chunkie vegies. It is very versatile. Happy eating. It freezes and keeps well.
Barbara, The Raw Food Diva
Hey thanks Barbara, I like your tips for more things to do with…my huge jackfruit! (I’m off to fix the title now hee hee!) Yes it does freeze well, we used it in smoothies and puddings for weeks afterwards…I’m definitely going to try your ‘brazil nut stuffed pods’, that sounds delicious! I’ll just make sure I’ve got friends coming round…to help me eat the rest of the jackfruit!