With Mom and Dad in town, we’ve spent a lot more time cuddling kangaroos and searching futilely for crocodiles in every river, creek, or small body of water than eating durian. But we had one more orchard visit scheduled — and a really special one at that.
On their last day here in Australia, the four of us drove to Alan Zappala’s farm near Babinda for a taste of a durian species found almost nowhere else in the world – the legendary Durio macrantha. I had a hunch this fruit might just convince my parents that the durian wasn’t just actually worth eating, but something pretty darn special.
Until Cyclone Yasi wiped him clean, Alan and his father, Joe, had an orchard of over 1,000 durian trees, one of the largest durian orchard in Australia at that time. The father-son team had spent years gathering delectable varieties from Malaysia and Thailand, and their collection included Red Prawn, Musang King, and D24, among others.
It also included 15 Durio macrantha trees.
Durio macrantha is a thing of mystery. In 1981 it was discovered in Gunung Leuser National Park in Northern Sumatra by a Herman Dirk Rijkens, who was into durian in terms of food for his pet project: orangutan rehabilitation. It’s unclear if he got a seed or took a cutting, but somehow he transferred a small tree to the home of a botanist who was a rockstar in the durian world – the great AJH Kosterman.
Alan Zappala with a Macrantha fruit
For years the tree languished, alone, the sole survivor of its species. Although research teams returned to the area, another tree was never found. It was even questioned whether or not the tree really was a separate species, or just some kind of freak mutant anomaly.
Kosterman, however, was enthusiastic that he’d found the “Tree of the Future.” The tree naturally met the ideal of the commercial durian – it was small and dwarfish and produced a fruit that had no odor but a flavor and texture very similar to normal durian. Songpol’s odorless durian critics take that.
He named it Durio macrantha because of it’s unusually large flowers, deeming the tree’s anatomy to be different enough from commercial durians to warrant being labelled a new species. And as the Durian Guru of the 20th Century, nobody questioned him. This guy knew his durian.
In 1994, the Zapallas got a call from Indonesia – Kosterman was seriously ill. Fearful that the growing unrest in Indonesia might render his favorite durian into firewood, Kosterman requested to have Macrantha brought to Australia. The Zapallas scrambled to get the import papers ready and contact fellow durian grower John Marshall, who was vacationing in Bali. That was quite a task considering that in 1994 the internet and cell phones didn’t exist yet in most Western cities, and especially not in Indonesia. Seriously, how did you old folks get anything done back then?
A testament to Macrantha’s curious lack of odor: Marshall carried a ripe fruit home on the plane, as a carry on, and nobody even knew.
The tree in Bogor is still there, as well as 12 of the Zapalla’s original trees. That means there’s probably fewer than 15 Macrantha trees in the entire world. That’s pretty rare.
Considering this was the only second time they had tasted fresh durian in their entire lives, Mom and Dad were pretty darn lucky. Heck, I go seriously out of my way to look for rare durians, and I felt lucky to get a taste.
To be honest, when I finally held Kosterman’s white whale, I was a little disappointed. It just seemed so… normal. It didn’t look like any of the jungle durians I’d seen tromping around Borneo. The spike was the same. The color was the same. It looked like an average sized durian I might pick up from a market in Malaysia.
In fact, I wondered if old Kostermans might be playing a posthumous practical joke. This thing was a new species? Really…
But it was true – there was almost no odor. If I put my nose right up in the arils I could get a whiff of something deliciously durian-y. But the smell was negligible.
Even the super-duper mild durian we ate last week, a D10 from Alan, could be whiffed from the carport before opening the front door. So when I say this thing had no smell, I mean it.
Alan thought the lack of smell might make it a good introductory durian for those not already so in love they’re driven to ridiculous acts of travel or spending (ahem). Mom and Dad would be a good test – their current perspective of “ It’s really not that bad wasn’t exactly a
resounding affirmation of durian love.
At Alan’s farm we cracked open a Macrantha. In the dim lighting the pale white flesh nearly glowed. It was kind of ugly. The surface of each pod was hard and tight, with none of those lovely folds and wrinkles of the super soft and creamy. I wasn’t enthralled.
But then I took a bite. And another. It was mild, as expected, but more bitter than I had imagined possible. It had a certain milkiness to it that reminded me a lot of another famous odorless durian that I tasted last June – the Longlaplae. It seems that Songpol’s odorless durian has some competition!
What surprised me most was the texture. Although it looked a bit hard and crunchy, the flesh was actually soft and thick, sticky like almond butter left in the refrigerator. Even the waxy bit of skin surrounding the seed was a pleasant texture. For once, Rob sucked his seed clean. Now that’s saying something about a durian.
Even more surprising was that my Dad kept pace with us. After the first durian, we cracked open another and without any prompting at all he was in on another piece. And then another, and another. Mom even ate a whole piece by herself.
“Lindsay,” she said, “you can tell your readers I’ve had a breakthrough.”
Durio Macrantha had worked its magic.
After the tasting, I gave Mom and Dad a quick tour of the orchard. It was the first time they’d seen many of the tropical fruit trees that populate my life, like rambutans, longsats, cempedak, and durian. It was fun to share a little piece of my world with them, and see their enthusiastic response. Mom even posed with a durian to prove to her friends that she’d been converted.
So there it is. Durio macrantha. That’s one more durian to add to my ever-lengthening list of durian species, which is pretty exciting. I’ll be posting more technical information like I do with all the other durian species in a future post.
And best yet, my Mom and Dad like durian. Maybe next time I visit I can eat my durian ice cream in the house.
References
- http://rfcarchives.org.au/Next/Fruits/Durian/DurioMacranthus123-02.htm
- http://rfcarchives.org.au/Next/Fruits/Durian/DurioMacrantha3-94.htm
Bénézet Jean says
Hello
I just discovered this page dedicated to Durian macrantha. I am currently planting for my pleasure new species of Durians in French Guiana where Durio monthong is now cultivated. Anyone did obtain D. macrantha seeds? Is it possible to get any … Where? How?
Best regards. Jean
[email protected] says
There are a few people growing Macrantha in Australia with mature trees who are sometimes willing to share seeds. There are also a few people in Hawaii with young trees you might be able to get budwood from.
Jesse Blenn says
Hi Lindsay,
Very nice. Of course I have the obvious question! When and where can we get seeds to plant in Costa Rica?? If they are interested I have found a new species of paradise nut (Lecythis sp.) that I could trade… or such rare forest gems like the Potato Chip Nut tree…. or the Apricot Gourd Vine…. if the flowers set fruit…
Jesse
Ian Tran says
Hi Linsay,
If I want to go to Boneo which part of this corner I could eat some red and rare durian please
also which month is the best.
Many thanks and best regards
Lucy
Lindsay Gasik says
Hi Lucy,
When and where to go depends on the specific species you are hoping to eat. Check out the information in our Duriopedia on species. You can find the links in this article: http://www.yearofthedurian.com/2013/04/a-complete-list-of-durian-species.html. Feel free to email me if you have more questions 🙂
Djodi says
Waaaa… I don't know if I ever ate this. I remembered eating some durians with very low smell. But don't know if those were this one.
Here we prefer those with the smelly ones because it supposed to be in the package, first you smell it then you taste it.
Vlk says
I am glad your parents have entered the durian fanclub!! :-))
Lindsay, do you think it will be possible to get seeds of macrantha in future years? 🙂 Zappalas sell their macrantha durians or do they have them for personal "usage" ? 🙂
Anonymous says
Yaay!
Though as a computer geek, I must correct you on your claim that " in 1994 the internet and cell phones didn't exist yet in most Western cities" — they most certainly did. Sure, neither was as widespread and universal as today, but both definitely existed throughout pretty much of the First World.
Try 1984 as a year when both didn't exist even in most Western cities (though Cell phones *did* exist in many Western cities and the Internet's predecessor Arpanet was around at places that did lots of Defense Department research, as were other networks. In 1984 I was in college and used e-mail (through a somewhat cumbersome gateway) to send messages to and from my parents who worked at Los Alamos National Labs. (Sometimes the messages would even arrive within 24 hours of being sent on the remote side… exciting!)
No, dinosaurs weren't around back then, either. Sorry. 🙂
Lindsay Gasik says
Lol Well maybe my family got left in the Stone Age on accident. I remember using the internet for the first time when I was about 10 – and that was in 2000!
I do realize that there was inter-work place networks and some kind of cell phone (although if I remember Seinfeld episodes correctly it was more or less the size of a boombox), but I seriously doubt cell phones or the internet were very common in Bali. I think it's pretty impressive they were able to track him down in time to get the tree.
Thanks for the insight from ancient history 🙂
Anonymous says
Yes, the Internet was much less prevalent in developing countries like Indonesia in the 1990s. Cell phones sort of varied. In some developing countries, cell service came fairly early, because it was an alternative to waiting years (yes, years) for a wired phone to be installed. Not sure where Indonesia falls. But yes, in general it was harder to communicate at light speed to developed countries, particularly to rural areas. But that's different than cell phones and Internet not existing even in most Western cities. By the mid 90s, both did.
Mostly Amélie says
Every time I read your blog I have to go and buy me some durian the next day! I'm drooling 🙂
Lindsay Gasik says
Glad to know my descriptions of durian are accurate 🙂 I'm getting hungry for durian now too!
Rascal says
Durians are are the king of fruits in asia. You gotta love it (:
Lindsay Gasik says
We sure do 🙂