Durian

Do you love durians? I love durians. It's almost the end of the durian season already but I always feel that I can never have enough of the fruit. Worse yet, my regular durian supplier at Bao Sheng Durian Farm in Sungai Pinang says I'll have to wait until next year before I can get my next fix from his orchard.

So what can I do in the meantime? I know, I know, there are lotsa durians still on sale on the streets of Penang. I can always go and satiate my hunger by the roadside. So that I don't stink up the car forever with my burps, my wife placed a huge chunk of charcoal somewhere below the back seat to catch the odour.

But you know what? I've just learnt that some enterprising nut of a company has managed to bottle durian puree with papayas and what not, and sell the mess as a health drink! Imagine...now you can have a healthy glass of durian juice all year round. More...the juice can supposedly help lift your spirits and make you happy. Golly, talk about a wonder juice! Or a wonder fruit for that matter. No wonder I'm usually so happy after demonstrating my wanton display of durian gluttony. I'd be so happy that I would be thinking of my next durian adventure.

I haven't seen any one selling the wonder drink here yet but I betcha it'll not be well accepted in South-East Asia. Who wants to take durian from a bottle when you can have it fresh from the orchard or the roadside stall? I don't mind waiting for the next season to come by. Nothing ever beats the real thing. It's only wimps who cannot stand the fruit's fragrance that will want to venture near this bottle of Durian Fusion.

Yes, that's the name of the product. Durian Fusion. And mind you, it's not cheap. A small 33-oz bottle will set you back by about USD54. Crazy. For that amount of money, I can buy possibly 15 to 20 fresh durians with all sorts of exotic names such as Hor Lor, Ang Heh, Ganja, Lipan and the ever-popular D600, D604, D24 and D11 to feed my family for the whole season.

My last durian was the Ganja. Two fruits for a mere RM10. It was bitter and creamy, and it glued my mouth up tight. It was sheer heaven. Better than some durian drink? You bet!