Meeting Penang’s King of Durian

Our first
day in Georgetown Rob and I had the good luck to run into the “King of
Durian.” Mr. Lim Kok Leon has spent his life promoting the durian fruit,
which he believes to be quite special. We were inspecting durians at a stall
when Mr. Lim showed up to buy some durians to share with a friend who was
visiting town. He owns  the Durian Herbal Center, a Chinese medicine and
acupuncture clinic specializing in treatments with durian root. In addition, he
has owned a durian orchard specializing in organic, grade A durian for over 40
years.

Mr. Lim and
his coworker, Ms. Ng Goot Yen, picked us up the next day at the durian stall
and drove us to a scenic picnic area overlooking the turquoise sea. Mr. Lim
explained that we could not meet at a coffee shop or a restaurant because, well
you know. He gestured at the three durian fruits he had brought along, fresh
from his orchard.

The thing he
was the most excited about is his newest product – Durian Flower Perfume. He
removed the little plastic bottles from their gold wrappings and energetically
pumped perfume into the air. Rob and I held back our coughs as the spray
entered our lungs. He offers both an alcoholic based spray and, for the Muslim
ladies, an oil based roll-on. Not only do Muslims not drink alcoholic, they
don’t use it. Mr. Lim suggested that maybe people in the US would like to buy
the perfume.”You can’t make perfume out of the fruit,” he said,
waving a hand in front of his nose. “No! But the flowers smell totally
different. Smell nice.”

I’ve never
smelled real durian flowers, so I can’t really say how well the perfume
preserved the odor. It reminded me distinctly of the perfume that came with my
first Barbie. Mr. Lim promised that he could have the perfume sent to the US
within four days of ordering. “Easy,” he explained. “Have Fed
Ex, have Western Union, it’s easy!” He generously gave us a few samples to
share with friends and family, assuring us that the perfume was “all
natural! No chemical, no artificial. Totally is the fruit and the
herb!” 

I was
curious about using durian for medicinal purposes. I am always amazed at the
healing powers of plants, and couldn’t wait to ask Mr. Lim about using durian.
Mr. Lim studied Chinese Medicine in Beijing. There he told his master about the
“heaty” properties of durian. “Heaty”, while not an actual
English word, is a concept ubiquitous to the durian eating regions. People have
noticed a tendency to feel hot and sweaty after a big durian meal. The
“heaty-ness” of durian is a topic of controversy, with some people
claiming that, like with chile peppers, consuming durian induces
detoxification, and others warning that it can cause abortion and heart
attacks.

While Rob
and I are tend to embrace alternative medicine, we have never looked into
Chinese Medicine. Chinese medicine is all about creating a balance of the yin
and yang energies, or the hot and cool elements of the body. So Mr. Lim began
using the durian root in place of or in combination with ginseng, another
“heaty” herb, to cure diseases of excessive coolness, like gout and
rheumatoid arthritis. He harvests the durian root from baby trees he grows on
his property. When the trees are one year old, he digs them up and sends the
roots to China, where they are processed into capsules. Two capsules, he
claims, are enough to cure gout in 4-5 hours.

I asked if
there was anyone who should not take durian root, or even durian. Ms. Yen
leaned in and told us that, in her experience, patients with cancer should not
take durian, because the durian makes the tumors grow faster.

Mr. Lim
brought out the Chinese newspaper clipping he had showed us the first time we
met.  It was from 1993, and showed a smooth faced young man showing off
various prize durians. Mr. Lim explained that when he was young, he was called
“Durian King” because of his work promoting the durian. He was even
sent to Thailand in the late 1980’s to study how to grow durian. When we asked
why he went to Thailand to study if Thai durians are inferior to Malaysian
ones, he waved his hand. “Ah, study the method. They have good method. Not
good durians.”  His own durians have won prizes in the annual Penang
Durian Competitions.

He had
brought three of his award winning durians for us to try. We felt excited and
appreciatively nervous. On the market, one of the durians he chose to share
with us would have cost around 50 RM (12ish dollars)! Wow, what a generous
guy!  Lucky us!

First we
were treated to the Ang Bak durian, a sticky orange durian from a tree only 10
years old. Rob loved this one, and later said, “If I bought that durian I
would be really pleased.” My favorite was the next selection, called Ang Jin. This durian was from a tree 40 years old, and Mr Lim used this durian to
show us the difference between a durian from a young tree and a durian from an
old tree. The flesh was incredibly creamy, like full fat yogurt. This was my
favorite. Mr. Lim, Ms. Yen, and her husband stood by and encouraged us to eat,
saying that they eat this durian every day. Ms. Yen kept exclaiming,
“Durian like this you won’t find!” 

He showed us
how to open the durians using his special durian-opening machine. The
contraption was featured at the 2003 opening of the docu-drama film, “The
Big Durian,” in which over 3,000 durians were opened. It was deemed a
security problem to have knives on the premises, so Mr. Lim brought his special
machine. Rob and I were skeptical at the practicality of such a thing, but
after experiencing the smoothness and ease of opening even the most stubborn,
practically need a chain-saw tough durian, we want one. I don’t understand why
I haven’t seen any durian vendors use one of these, instead of continuing to
hack and struggle with a knife.

I asked Ms.
Yen which was her favorite durian. She laughed and says every year she must try
one from every tree, every tree, every tree. Besides just enjoying all
the different flavors of durian, she is testing the health of the tree. A durian tree will produce different flavored
fruits depending on how well it is being cared for.  Durians that are not
being cared for tend to be less sweet, less flavorful, have a weaker smell, and sometimes a paler color, depending on the variety. Mr. Lim claims that even the flowers will not have as
strong of an odor, which is a detriment to his perfume business. When he tastes
his durian, he can tell if he needs to apply more fertilizer this year for the
coming season. For additional quality control, he marks each of his durians
with his label, “Fruit King Choice,” and asks for customer feed back. If
the fruit from one particular tree gets a lot of complaints, he knows to test
the soil and apply the appropriate fertilizer.

The last
durian we enjoyed was the 1992 Champion, A-14. This was a hefty durian, each
seed enveloped in a dense, inches thick layer of egg-like custard. We were
already fully satiated from the other two durians, and begged for help in
devouring this monstrosity of creamy flesh. Ms. Yen and Mr. Lim declined to
help us, encouraging us to enjoy this special durian. With some effort
(but not too much), we managed to finish it off.

 After we were totally, completely, and sleepily full of durian (think post-Thanksgiving!), Mr. Lim dropped us off back at the durian stall. We waved good bye, impressed by everything he had shared with us that afternoon -the durian opening device, the incredible durians, his animated explanations, and his generosity. Thanks, Mr. Lim!