12 Best Durian 2024 Brought Us (Our Year in Durian Deliciousness)

Happy New Year again, Durian Munchers!

Now is the time of year when Richard and I sit down together and reminisce over the BESTest, most tastiest, most unusual and *outstanding durians* that we ate during the previous year. It’s not necessarily our top ten favorite durians of all time ever, but these are the ones we particularly remembered during the ups and downs of the past 365 days.

And let me tell you… 2024 was a durian doozy!!

We hope you can use this travelogue for your own Durian Travels in 2025 🤩
Need more inspo? Here’s our lists from previous years:

• Best Durians of 2017
• Best Durians and Durian Destinations of 2019
• Best Durians of 2020
• Best Durians of 2021
• Best Durians of 2022
• Best Durians of 2023

2024 A Taste of Borneo – USA!

This feels so long ago now…. but we celebrated the New Year with the arrival of our second-ever shipment of Durians from Borneo Island, Malaysia – and our first-ever collaboration with a US-based restaurant to bring Durian Tastings to the USA!

We have to thank Tracy from Damansara Co, in San Francisco, for leading the way on these tastings. Tracy is a Malaysian who has lived in the US for over 20 years, and somehow we were blessed to connect on social media.

We were nervous bringing in the Borneo durians in a big quantity, because they are so different from regular durians 😬 would US durian lovers like them???

These are the bright orange, red, yellow, funky colored – and funky tasting! – “wild” durians from the many tribes of people living near the forests in Borneo Island. We had spent the fall of 2023 working our butts off to make this happen, and the reward of actually receiving the durians safely to the USA felt immensely satisfying.

It was even more rewarding and reassuring to get to watch people eat them and see their reactions!! We also got to explain in person where the durians came from, who grew them, and why they were different from regular durians sold in shops in the USA.

So in January we took off on a Durian Tour around the USA, bringing these exotic durians to San Francisco, Miami, the Big Island of Hawaii, and Maui. It was an epic way to explore my own country (I’m an American), attract people with like interests, and make a lot of new durian friends.

We had so much fun on USA Durian Tour 🇺🇸, that we immediately began plotting how we could do it all again when we returned to the USA in the winter.

Mekong Delta, Vietnam 🇻🇳

Our USA Durian Tour completed, in March, we traveled to Vietnam to meet up with our long-time Facebook durian friend Tam Viet and got to trail behind him on motorbikes as he helped us explore the Mekong Delta. This was such a wonderful way to try to understand the area more, we can’t thank Tam Viet enough for the hospitality 🫶🏻

March was just a bit too early to hit the main season. If we’d come at the end of April or May it would have been better… but ummmm that’s the peak season in Chanthaburi so… no? 🤣 at least not in 2024.

We got lucky anyway – Ho Chi Minh had plenty of very good quality Ri6 available, plus Musang King and other early varieties, enough quality and quantity that I wrote a blog post about Durian Hopping in Ho Chi Minh City.

But the crown of the experience was the 6Huu that we tried on our first day at our homestay in the Mekong.

1. Durian 6Huu 🇻🇳

Where: Jardin du Mekong Homestay

This was a tree-ripe durian, and at first we thought it must be a “Durian Baan” or “Kampung” type duirans – just a random tree planted by seed. But when we returned to Ho Chi Minh, we saw this for sale at some durian shops. I looked it up, and realized it’s a very old variety! How cool!

The stem was still sticky with sap and fresh, the meat thick and creamy, and it was honestly just like eating a sweet condensed milk or sweet soymilk dessert. Mild but flavorful at the same time! Very delicious and a great memory of our trip to the Mekong.

2. Kampan Ta Pae

Where: Suan Ban Rao

Although Suan Ban Rao has still not yet re-opened to the public post-pandemic, and Pi John is evasive if he ever will re-open, he made my year by agreeing to save some of his rare durian collection for me to photograph.

The stand out was Kampan Ta Pae. Yes, this durian was cut-harvested the Thai style, not tree-ripe – but do you see those thick folds of flesh? This durian was picked at the PERFECT ripeness to have the texture of crisco frosting. It was caramelly and eggy and very very good.

10-Day Thailand Durian Tour

Where: Sign up here

At the end of April we welcomed an amazing group of people to tour eastern Thailand with us for durians!

Every group is a wild and fun ride watching how tour guests react to the new environment and experiences, but this particular group was a unique concinnity of several very special personalities who made every day a true delight.

It was also a fantastic durian season, and we hit the peak season dead on. The group consumed the following 33 durian varieties over the 10 Days:

1. Black Thorn
2. Chan #1
3. Chan #7
4. Chan #9
5. Chanee
6. Chomphu Ban
7. E-mor
8. E-Haam
9. Ganyao
10. Kampan Doem
11. Kampan Leung
12. Kampan Puang
13. Khiao Tam Leung
14. Khun Inn
15. Kradum Thong
16. Kradum Si Nak
17. Krapookthong
18. Kob Chai Nam
19. Kob Lep Yiew
20. Kob Takham
21. Kob Soaklin
22. Longlablae
23. Monthong
24. Musang King
25. Nokyib
26. Nuantongchan
27. Puangmanee
28. Si Nuan
29. Thong Kam
30. Thong Tae
31. Thong Yoi
32. Thong Yoi Chat
33. Ton Yai

The Durian Travelers

Just a week later, our dear friends from the Durian Travelers honored us by dropping by for a 4-day Durian Smash as we showed them some of our favorite farms in Chanthaburi.

Durian Travelers is an organization from Indonesia who brought along old friends and a few new faces for a At the end of May, we were delighted to host the gregarious Durian Traveler’s, a high-energy group of intense durian lovers who came to Chanthaburi to taste the best durians Thailand has to offer.

3. Chanee

Where: NS Coffee Garden

This hip artisan coffee shop in the durian farmlands is so high-end and so unexpected 🤣

Luk Wa and her husband Chris returned to Thailand from studying overseas with a mission to transform Luk Wa’s a corner of her family’s farmstay into a coffee bar and cocktail bar. This alone makes visiting NS Coffee worth it – Chris is an incredibly talented barista, serving Thai beans he sources and roasts himself.

One day, as we were wandering the family’s enormous durian farm on tour, we discovered this Chanee wedged in a crook of a branch. We quickly wiggled up the tree to fish it out, and discovered the alluringly metallic aroma of a NUMB durian.

Ooooh holy cow, this durian had all the thick-sticky-custard texture you could ask combined with caramel sweetness and the special alcoholic, methol kick that you only find when you’re very lucky. Incredible!

4. E-Nak

Where: SW Garden

While touring with the Durian Travelers we almost walked past the E-Nak, which had fallen from an old tree. Krit told us this was the oldest tree on the property, and that it would be “Pa-La” – which I think at this point is kind of a joke since he knows this is our favorite level of ripeness!!

It was super fresh, the stem sticky, and while we stood under the tree another one fell! Yikes!

This durian had so much air in the texture it was like whipping cream, with a delightful eggy-caramel flavor. I got exactly one piece before it was ripped to pieces and devoured by the Durian Traveler crew – so will definitely be seeking out another in the coming year!!

June – Migrating to Malaysia

When Durian Travelers left us, it was time to begin our annual trip south to Malaysia.

In the past few years, we’ve taken the long drive as a slow meandering exploration of southern Thailand, stopping to visit farms and friends in Pala-U (Pala-U Monthong), Ranong (see Rainy Durian Day in Ranong), Phang Nga (see James Bond Island Durian Adventure), Krabi (see Birdee’s Durian Forest Farm, Organic Farm-to-Table Durian Lunch, Durian Cannabis at Suan Pad Ing and more) and crossing overland via the durian-heavens at Satun (see Satun Durian Guide)

But this year, with the durian season in Southern Thailand starting strangely late and the season in Penang racing ahead early, we found ourselves bee-lining it from Chanthaburi to Penang in one very long drive.

We took our one stop-over at the very scenic Chomdao Baan Manisa on the edges of Lake Kathun กะทูน where we found an early batch of Durian Baan that made us very very happy at breakfast 😋

This one isn’t one of the best durians of 2024, but it was memorably good 😌 so it gets a shout-out.

5. D220 Tokun Top

Arriving in Penang, it was time to catch the early season varieties!

In 2023, Mr. Chang kindly introduced us to his newly registered durian variety, D220, known locally as Tokun Top – but we kind of whiffed it 🤭

The first one he saved for us – we arrived late and had to photograph it at night (awkward). When he brought the second one, the season was almost ending and the durian quality was, in his own words, not up to par.

So in 2024 year we put D220 on our priorities list, and WOW we were not disappointed 🤩 If you love bitter, rummy, kahlua-vanilla custard durians, put D220 on YOUR list for 2025.

Mr. Chang is also the first farm in Malaysia to receive the brands new agricultural certification for a Pesticide-Free Farm (not organic, but no-spray). We are very excited that the government is rolling out this intermediary between regulated conventional farms (myGAP) and fully organic (myOrganik), which is difficult to achieve for many farmers due to so many factors – like proximity to neighbors, difficulty getting certified fertilizers, etc.

So way to go Mr. Chang for leading the way!!

Penang Durian Masterclass

In middle of June, we welcomed a group of very serious Durian Students who were ready to spend 3-Days eating Durian in order to

6. Kacang Hijau

Where: Eng Hoe Durian Farm

I was delighted that this year, for the first time in my memory, one of my favorite durians was in abundance. I ate Kacang Hijau for breakfast on many days in 2024, and was delighted every time by its yogurty texture, earl-grey tea bitterness, and light caramel sweetness.

Usually, I get Kacang Hijau only on one or two special days when I make the effort to drive to Teluk Bahang in the early morning, arriving at Eng Hoe’s Farm in Teluk Bahang before all the other Kacang Hijau lovers show up to nab the small selection.

If you would like to taste Kacang Hijau in the USA, you can order it on our frozen durian webshop.

7. Lantern

Where: 808 Durian Stall in Balik Pulau

This one has got to have some Durio lowianus in it, it’s a wild ride! Super strong, super alcoholic to the point it’s almost like a

Lantern is a very old durian variety in Penang that has never been given a registration number. We were lucky to be introduced to it by our friends Ali & Marcus in 2023 – and in 2024 I apparently became the biggest buyer 🤣 Hope they weren’t mad at me!

Black Thorn with Durian Traveler in Penang

Where: Serene Orchard

The Black Thorn this year also had an epic year – with more Black Thorn than I’ve seen in any year. It was a good time to be a Black Thorn lover!

Durian Travelers usually times their trips around Black Thorn – and I knew they had high expectations for quality especially on a year like this year.

So I need to give an honorable mention to Mr. Ah Heng at Serene Orchard for pulling out the good stuff for us. Almost every one of his Black Thorns was like heavy port wine – super rich, syrupy, and alcoholic. I think the whole group got Durian Drunk!! 🤪

8. D214 Tupai King

Where: Cap Tupai

The other durian that Durian Traveler’s organized their trip for was Tupai King. We had an amazing visit with Vincent and his dad – and they reserved just the best quality ever. Durian after durian was just impeccable, the irresistible smell of alcohol and numb, combined with those mouthwatering dark black tiger striping…

I thought about it for days after they all left and went home, battling with my cravings. Tupai King is expensive. But, I hadn’t even gotten one piece!!

Finally I contacted Vincent and told him I wanted to buy myself a birthday gift – the most intense Tupai King he could spare. He told me he would do his best for me. here is a waiting list for Tupai King, and even we have to get on it 🤣

But finally, on July 17th, it was my turn. Vincent sent me 2 Tupai King by Lala Move driver, arriving just in time for breakfast before I had to scurry off for the day.

I was in HEAVEN. The delicate black bruising on the wrinkles, the heavy grape-y Manachevitiz sweetness intertwined with the syrupy texture of port wine – it hit all my cravings 🤤

I wouldn’t normally recommend getting drunk at breakfast…. but the glow that the Tupai King left me with lingered as a happy haze all day.

Preparing Durian for the USA 🇺🇸

Even with the durian tours on-going, throughout June, July and August we were overseeing durian processing for sending to the USA.

It was a ferociously busy time, with hours so long the days slipped into each other and we were often wrapping up at 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning. We were blessed with a fantastically hard-working team at the durian factory – who we would like you to remember when you enjoy the durians now available in the USA!

Every durian was opened by a person, every pod was examined and graded, and every tray was packed with human hands. Thank you to our team 🫶🏻 I will especially always remember the youngest team-member, who turned 18 years old that summer, driving a tiny riding floor-cleaner in deranged infinity loops, laughing and whooping like he was on a 6 Flags Roller Coaster and not just cleaning up durian smears at 1 AM 🤣

9. Dream Lover DL103

Where: Hin Hin Durian Farm
One of our most impactful discoveries during this time was Dream Lover DL103.

Ah Heng called it D103, which if you look up the government register, is impossible. D103 was registered in 1970 at a government ag station with the name “Bangkok Tree 28.” This was not a Thai-style durian.

He told us the local name was “Dream Lover” – which is an excellent name! Richard was infatuated immediately, with the durian and the name!

This durian can win prizes anywhere in the world. It’s texture is the perfect blend of thick Jiffy Smooth lightened with whipping cream, the honeyed sweetness just barely alcoholic like a sweet mead, the gentle chocolate giving a grounding earthiness and bitterness to round out the flavors.

We had this one on our frozen durian webshop, but it sold out! Those who tried it came back and nabbed the rest 🤣 it’s that good!

10. D78

Where: Hin Hin Durian Farm

This was the most classically bitter durian we tasted all year. With Tekka failing miserably this year, we were missing that good old fashioned bitter durian taste – the thick custardy kind that is almost too rich, that brings the heat to your cheeks immediately, and leaves you with an almost metallic tang to the aftertaste.

D78 performed amazingly! Super thick and custardy, very filling, and full of wrinkles.

If you would like to taste this D78 in the USA, you can order it on our frozen durian webshop

11. Sompo

Where: Lenggeng Most Wanted Durian by Zain Maarof

We had tried hybrids of Durio lowianus and Durio zibethinus before, and some of them are amazing! One that comes to mind is the Kok Family Farm’s L13, which has sprung into international fame.

What we realized this year, is how common these hybrids are! These have very long, curving thorns and look visibly different on the outside from regular durians. They are also larger and fleshier than most wild durians. Some of them taste very weird as well – we even tasted one that was like smoked bacon, like the smell in the microwave at my grandmother’s house. That was something to remember 🤣

The tastiest one had bright yellow flesh, a bright nutty flavor, and that zingy floral aroma that is so specific to Durio lowianus. We loved it!!

Find it at Lenggeng Most Wanted Durian next season, or maybe we’ll try to bring it to you in the USA 🇺🇸😉

12. Durio oxleyanus

I am not always a big fan of this durian species, but we found some really really nice ones this year. They have a special fluffy, ultra soft texture and a sweetness like coffee in condensed milk. Sometimes I find them insipid. They also have a very short shelf life so the majority of them are overripe and grey, the texture souped, and the flavor tinged with onion,.

Luckily this year we found a stall where the owners were picking up the durians from a giant mothertree somewhere in the forest. These were actually fresh and delicious! It was the first time I can remember really enjoying Durio oxleyanus, appreciating their milky sweetness and melting texture.

Can’t wait to find a bigger supply of these next year!

Durian Trip to Naratiwat, Southern Thailand

In the last days of August, we crossed the border and returned to Thailand.

I was, to be very frank, completely exhausted.

By August, we had been collecting durians to send to the US for 3 months. The project was all-consuming, and we’d had our heads down and focused for so long the season was passing in a blur.

So I was STOKED to realize we had landed in Naratiwat at the end of a very big season. Naratiwat was somewhere new, somewhere exciting, somewhere slightly dangerous – the last southern Thai province I still hadn’t traveled through.

And here we were with free time to explore! This was FUN.

We attempted bird-watching in Hala Bala Wildlfe Sanctuary, went kayaking down the cutest little gold-flecked river where our guide taught us how local aunties panned for gold, and lived off tree-ripe, super creamy Durian Baan every day.

The durian was the mildest, smoothest, most consistently milky durian we’d ever had. None of the durians looked the same on the outside, but the flavor profile was SO CONSISTENT.

One of them was particularly good, which I wrote about our guide to staying at Hala Bala Wildlife Sanctuary, but it wasn’t quite good enough to make this list of top durians.

So this one’s just bonus eye-candy 🤩

Lake Kenyir in Terrenganu

Continuing our Durian Holiday, we drove to a place I had long wanted to re-visit, Lake Kenyir.

This area is where I had first seen a wild elephant while hunting for an elusive species called Durio wyatt-smithii. I never found it, but was impressed with the diversity of fruits. I wrote about that in my blog post about Terrenganu.

We booked a private one-day boat trip on the lake with an excellent guide named Adnan, who took us to the far fingers of the lake to visit Gua Bewah and Gua Taat, where we also hiked on a very well-labeled botanical trail to a giant Melunak Tree. This would have been my favorite part of the trip except, EXCEPT – we saw a wild elephant feeding on the banks of the lake.

There is nothing that beats a wild elephant spotting. Almost nothing anyway….

Terrenganu Tiny Kampung Durian

When we got back from our boat trip in the late afternoon, wind-whipped and hungry, we found our host cleaning durians he had just collected from the small plot in the back of the homestay. He offered us to try any 2 durians that we wanted from the pile.

The homestay was very modern, a 2-story brand new building with 4 spacious rooms above some empty shop lots, located a convenient 10 minutes driving from the lake jetty. It was far more comfortable of a hotel experience than I expected to find in this region.

We smelled through the pile of durians, then picked out a very tiny one, less than 1kg, that had just 2 little pods of perfection. Wow! We said. Maybe we were just hungry, but it was so sweet, so caramel-y, and somehow salty? It wasn’t bitter at all, but it hit a certain resonance of toffee candy that we gobbled up with astonished joy.

We asked if we could have 3 or 4 of the little-bitty ones. He said we could choose the big ones if we wanted, but just 2 fruits. We offered to pay for just the small ones, but he wanted a price that was just…inappropriate. We felt a little shocked and decided just to stay within the 2 fruits limit, picking out one more little fruit that was less than 1/2 kg. It was just as good in quality as the first, but somehow didn’t taste quite as nice.

If we had paid his price for the remaining few tiny ones, I don’t think they would have tasted as joyful as the first one either.

In a way it felt petty, but at the same time the whole experience, the gestalt experience, really affects our perceptions. I will always remember that little durian, and I hope that we get to try it again under different circumstances. It’s not it’s fault 🤣

And then the durians finally arrived!!!

In late October we bee-lined back up Hwy 4 to Bangkok and boarded a flight to the USA… just in time to meet the frozen durians we’d been working on all summer!

It’s such an exciting moment to see the compltion of a project! But we weren’t even half done yet. Now it was time to get the durians to you!

The best durians we’ve ever made 🤩

We of course did a bunch of taste testing with family, and we were so proud 🥹 this was by far the best quality, the most consistent and the most delicious durian we had ever packaged and sold on this website.

The difficult summer had been worth it!! I felt like I was taking a deep breath for the first time after months of holding it.

Could it be true? We had really made this?

USA Durian Tours 2024

We hit the road again! With our new stock in hand, we were excited to bring this durian to our friends and followers in the USA. The best part is getting that immediate gratification and validation, seeing the smiles, the oohs and aahs, and figuring out what all of you like best.

With the help of friends, we took the Durian Tasting Events to San Francisco (Damansara Co) , Saint Petersburg (Ylang Ylang Nursery) and Fort Myers in Florida, and Los Angeles (O Happy Days Cafe).

And that’s how we wrapped up 2024! Together with Durian Lovers 🫶🏻 – not only remembering the Best Durian 2024 brought us, but eating many of them together with you!

Coming up in 2025

Now we’re diving in 2025, finishing up our USA Durian Tour before we head back across the sea to SE Asia.

We’ve got 3 more events in 2025:

• January 5th, 2025: A Taste of Penang | Maui
• January 12th, 2025: A Taste of Malaysia | Big Island
• January 18th, 2025: A Taste of Malaysia | Oahu

Will we come back to the USA and do more in 2025? I don’t know! But if you’d like us to visit your city, make sure to get in touch and let us know!

Other than that, we have some longer term projects that are almost done and should be finished in May/June of 2025, and lots of tour and season announcements coming up in January, February and March!

2025 is set to be an exciting year in Durian – see you on the other side of the new year 🥳 🫶🏻