Trying Durian for the First Time! How to Open, Eat & Store the Stinkiest Fruit

I feel like this post shouldn’t be categorized under “Food Review,” but rather under “Extreme Survival Challenge.”

Yes. I finally went to battle with the infamous Durian.

Ranked alongside Surströmming (fermented Swedish herring) and Stinky Tofu as one of the world’s most infamously foul-smelling yet supposedly delicious delicacies, I somehow ended up with a whole durian. And I ate it.

What is Durian?

If the movie Mad Max: Fury Road was a fruit, it would be a Durian.

\By the way, you can watch Mad Max on Amazon Prime Video!/

Inside its vicious, spiked armor lies a highly nutritious fruit known across Southeast Asia as the “King of Fruits.”

However… it stinks. It smells so bad that it is famously banned on public transport and in many hotels across Asia.

Yet, those who love it claim the flesh is so rich and creamy that it induces a cult-like addiction. Rumor has it that in its native countries like Thailand and Vietnam, there’s an urban legend warning people that “eating too much durian will kill you”—basically a cautionary tale to stop people from overindulging in this high-calorie king.

How I Ended Up with a Durian

In Japan, durian is incredibly rare. Because of its notorious odor, it’s difficult to import. When you do find one in a high-end department store, a single fruit can cost around 6,000 yen (about $40 USD). As someone whose wallet is constantly drained by my spoiled pet cats and dogs, buying one was out of the question.

But they say, “Ask, and you shall receive.”

I happen to be the kind of person who enjoys Kusaya (a fermented, incredibly pungent Japanese dried fish that usually makes everyone else in the room evacuate). Because of my tolerance for stinky foods, I had been telling everyone around me, “Man, I really want to try durian.”

Hearing this, my aunt and uncle—who are avid durian lovers—said, “Well, if you want to eat it, just eat it!” and generously mailed a whole durian right to my doorstep!

Beware of Durian Deliveries…

My durian arrived via courier in late May. Despite being wrapped in multiple layers of newspaper, plastic bags, and trash bags, the warm spring heat had accelerated its ripening.

When I picked it up from the local delivery center, the receptionist gave me a highly suspicious look. “It says ‘Fruit’ on the box… but is this okay?” she asked repeatedly, as a distinct odor of decay wafted from the package.

“It’s fine! I’m so sorry!” I bowed apologetically. I loaded it into my car, and instantly, my car smelled like a crime scene. To be specific: It smelled like a wet garbage can that had been left in the sun for three days.

I was worried. Very worried. But also excited.

How to Ripen a Durian at Home

When I got home and opened the box, my entryway was instantly engulfed in a smell that fruit flies would throw a rave for.

I repacked it in its bags and box and placed it in a corner of my home gym.

My husband was worried about attracting bugs outside, but to save our wallpaper from permanently absorbing the stench, we compromised and put it outside on the balcony inside a heavy-duty, locking storage bin usually used for kerosene tanks.

How to Open (or Hack Open) a Durian

The next day.
The smell of the durian, safely locked on the balcony, had somehow permeated all the way to the front door. (That’s a vertical drop of 3 meters and a distance of 10 meters!)

“If this isn’t fully ripe, then when it IS ripe, the entire neighborhood is going to suffocate,” I realized.

It was time to open it.

The package came with a cheerful instruction manual saying “Enjoy!”, but we didn’t own a machete big enough to crack open this Mad Max armor. So, using the natural crack at the bottom, my husband and I brute-forced it open.

We hauled it out onto the balcony (thankfully, it was a windy day) with Tupperware and trash bags.
“It stinks! It stinks! It stinks!” I kept chanting.
My husband, sweating bullets in a tank top and shorts, looked like he was surviving in the rural jungles of Southeast Asia.

With a loud CRACK, it opened.

The yellow lobes inside are the edible flesh. Honestly, they look like livers.

The whole process felt and smelled less like preparing fruit and more like performing an illegal organ transplant.

Truly, the King of Fruits.

The Taste Test: What Does Durian Taste Like?

It took us 30 minutes to extract the five lobes of fruit on the balcony. By the time we were done, our noses had completely broken. We had gone nose-blind.

“Actually, it kind of smells like an overripe, fermented mango?” we tried to convince ourselves. “Or maybe a really expensive melon that went bad?”

The flesh was incredibly soft, sticking to our fingers like room-temperature butter.

I took a bite.

The Texture: It’s incredibly sticky and creamy, like a hybrid of butter and banana.
The Taste: It’s intensely sweet, like a hyper-concentrated, ultra-rich mango. It made me wonder if mangoes and durians are distant cousins.

Because I had been so terrified of the smell, my brain was so relieved by the sweet taste that it instantly categorized it as a masterpiece.

However…
While eating it, you don’t notice the smell. But the moment you burp, or smell your partner’s breath, your face instinctively scrunches up in disgust. If a third person had walked into the room, they probably would have vomited.

Pro-Tip: Do not meet anyone important for at least 48 hours after eating durian.

How to Store Durian (And a Weird Discovery)

We couldn’t possibly eat all five lobes in one sitting.
To store leftover durian, wrap each piece tightly in plastic wrap, put them in double-sealed Ziploc bags, and throw them in the freezer!

Durian spoils very quickly, and if a fruit that already smells like garbage actually rots, your neighbors will probably call the police.

But here is the most bizarre part:
When you freeze durian, its smell changes from “Wet Garbage” to “City Gas Leak.”

I personally preferred eating it fresh when the sweetness wasn’t masked by the cold, but if you can’t stand the smell, freezing it turns the texture into a rich ice cream sorbet!
(Though, if you asked my primal survival instincts whether they prefer the smell of wet garbage or a gas leak, I’d probably choose the garbage.)

Final Thoughts & Aftermath

One last piece of advice: Clean up your durian scraps immediately and thoroughly.
Despite our frantic efforts to deodorize the balcony, a stray cockroach managed to find its way to the scent, causing our entire household to erupt into screaming chaos.

So, are you brave enough to try the King of Fruits?

Let me know if you’ve ever survived a durian encounter in the comments below!