Don’t know much about Durian fruit except for the fact that it smells and I want to try it without bringing it into my house.
Any suggestions on where to go and how to try/buy/order it? is it readily available all year round?
Any insight would be welcome.
I see durians now and then at any of the Asian supermarkets I visit – not positive about H Mart but the Chinese markets have them. The problem is that they are huge and I think you will find them stinky in a non-interesting way the way I do. One year I bought some moon cakes (now isn’t the season) and was distressed to find that some were durian-flavored. Couldn’t eat them. But perhaps the answer for you would be to look for durian flavored food?
I think you must have a gazillion Chinese groceries near you – visit them, ask questions.
Can’t give you anything specific, but I would think that with some patience and effort you could find them in Chinatown Mahattan or Flushing. Talk to some street vendors. Not sure when the season is either. In addition, I would suspect any top notch Vietnamese or Malaysian restaurant would have a durian shake on the menu.
The huge JMart in Flushing carries them. Fresh and frozen.
My preference is for ice cream or shakes as the smell is minimized and the flavor is very nice. Many Vietnamese restaurants will have Durian shakes though in my experience of very variable quality. My favorite durian shake is at a run down place in Spring Valley, NY which doesn’t help you much.
There’s a newish Chinese dessert place in Chinatown just a few doors down from Chinatown Ice Cream Factory which has several good durian based desserts. Might be the easiest option.
Just found it with Google Street View - it’s called Beautiful Memory Desserts at 69 Bayard St.
While I realize you’re looking more for desserts, there is a stand on Grand Street just west of Bowery that specializes in durian. I have never bought from him (my experiences eating durian in Thailand as an exchange student in high school still haunt me 30+ years later) but he has been around for quite some time so I imagine his quality and pricing are decent. Here’s a NYT article on him. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/14/nyregion/the-durian-man-of-chinatown.html
He also appears to have a Facebook page under “Durian NYC”.
Try and find an organic Thai one rather than a Chinese.
The easiest and least intensive way would be to find a Thai restaurant that carries durian with sticky rice. It’s usually available in the summer time, when the fruit is in season, and run you between $7-10. If you buy fresh, it could cost about $30 or more for one, and if you like it ripe like I do, you’d wait a week for it to turn brown and start to crack. One sign it’s ready is when I start to see fruit flies swarming about.
But, yes, when it’s good, it’s totally worth it.
Just as a side note.
I picked up some Durian Ice Cream at Chinatown Ice Cream Factory about a week ago. You should have seen the suspicious look on the dogs’ faces when I opened up the container. They eyed it the whole time it was out of the freezer.
Funny story… a friend bought one in SF Chinatown to take home with him. Took it on the flight and put it in the overhead bin in his luggage. After about 30 mins into the flight - and several complaints from passengers - they did a search and confiscated it as a potential terrorist threat. Not sure where they put it to kill the smell but he was NOT a popular guy
So I bought a frozen one today in an Asian market.
Any insight or suggestions on what to do now?
Looks like my Internet research says let it thaw for at least 6 hours and then cut it open in sections .
Thx for any insight .
My waiter, Ken at Royal East, was eating some and brought over some. I think the trick is to eat it cold as it did not smell bad as I expected. It was a creamy custard texture and didn’t wow me.
Thx . And don’t think the frozen ones here in the US compare to fresh ones in Parts of Asia
IIRC they were forbidden on flights in Thailand…
A lot depends on how ripe they are. The less ripe, the less aromatic they’re going to be. That said, the flavors won’t be as developed either. I tend to like them riper, softer and custardy, but won’t go out in public soon after.