Durian glut

This is durian season. It has been going on for about a month now and, from what I can see, we're in the middle of a real glut. Not just in Penang, but in Kuala Lumpur and many other places as well. Prices have dropped to levels I haven't seen in quite a while. Musang King, for instance, has been selling for around RM15 a kilogram. That's really, really cheap. Even Black Thorn, normally the premium variety, has come down to about RM35 to RM39 a kilogram.

When the season first got underway a little over a month ago, The Old Frees' Association announced its annual durian outing to Balik Pulau. Unfortunately, I had to give it a miss. My brother-in-law and his family were returning from Singapore for a visit and, under circumstances like that, family comes first. No question about it.

Still, that didn't mean we had to go without durians. Since they were here, I decided to take them to Junjong, a little town near the Penang-Kedah border. Balik Pulau may be the island's best-known durian destination, but Junjong deserves a mention too. Technically it's in Kedah rather than Penang, but that's really splitting hairs. Good durians don't pay much attention to state boundaries.

We wandered from stall to stall before settling on seven durians for RM210: one Musang King, three Black Thorn, one Green Skin and two other varieties whose names have completely slipped my mind. The important thing was that they all tasted wonderful.

A few days later we found ourselves in Kuala Lumpur, where I suggested to our daughter that we should go for a durian session. This time we stopped at Seri Kembangan and came away with three durians - a Musang King, a Black Thorn and a D101 - all for RM110. Again, a bargain considering what these varieties usually fetch outside the peak season.

Since returning home, we've somehow managed to fit in a few more rounds. One day it was a plastic container of the D22 variety for RM20. On another occasion, while offering lunch dana at Nandaka Vihara, there were durians among the offerings afterwards, so naturally we weren't going to let them go to waste. 

All things considered, despite missing the OFA durian trip, I really can't complain. One way or another, there have been plenty of opportunities to indulge in the king of fruits during what must surely be one of the best seasons in recent years. And the season isn't over yet. It usually runs into August, so I suspect there are still a few more durian feasts waiting before this year's glut finally comes to an end.