Jsvand5, They are shipped in cooler , not freezer. just like the fresh veggies we buy from supermarket, they stored in cooler too.
iL847,
Iâm sorry, thanks not correct. If there were actuay fresh durian available in the US they would sell for huge prices. They may be de thawed by the time you get them but they were frozen at some point. They have to freeze them in order to be imported.
Jsvand5, why has to be freeze in order to be imported? is it a U.S import regulation?
Yes, they are not approved to be imported fresh unless something has changed very recently. I have a friend with a farm in Puerto Rico. It may be possible to get them imported fresh from Puerto rico at some point but I donât think he started exporting them off of the island yet. I think he is the only farm in Puerto Rico producing a decent number of them. I have went there a few times and the fresh definitely blows away anything that is available in the asian markets here. Hopefully it will change at some point and they will be widely available.
Donât we have bananas, pineapples, mangoes, papaya, etc fresh fruits in supermarket that are imported from Mexico and other S. american countries. If they have been frozen, for example banana, will the banana skin go darker and texture is musy, not as fresh looking as it in stores?
The rules are different for Mexico and South America. Also each fruit has different rules. Some are frozen, some are irradiated some have to be soaked. I think it depends on he type of bugs they can harbor. I know mangosteen has to be irradiated which is why none of the seeds will germinate. Mangoes are soaked in hot water.
understand now
A short video about Durian. Itâs such a polarizing fruit. For a while, after college, I was an English teacher to foreign students. I had a lot of students from Asia and one of my favorite things to do was to set up debates in class to get students talking. The Durian debates would often rage the longest.
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I was born in Malaysia so grew up eating Durian. The smell doesnât bother me but it reeks to our non-Malaysian in-laws. We love the taste but very few of our white friends share that opinion. My dadâs very adventurous Canadian friend joined us for a trip to Malaysia back in 83. His reaction upon seeing and smelling Durian was âLooks great. Smells wonderful.â His reaction upon tasting Durian was to spit it up all over my uncleâs while scraping his tongue and yelling âTastes like SH! T!!â Needless to say he had all of us, over 20 extended family members rolling on the floor (away from the spewed out durian) laughing our heads off. But really, even those of us who love eating Durian would never claim it âsmells wonderfulâ. Priceless memory. Ahhh good times, good times.
Anthony
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Iâve had it a few times in Singapore and Thailand, and donât care for it at all, although it was a gateway to mangosteen which is superb, and as close to an antidote as one could hope for.
There are many cultivars, like with apples, you donât get the full picture by one sample at a given time. Friends in Singapore they swore by a few cultivars from Malaysia as superior to other regions. Of course, their idea of superior seems to be turning up the gain on the features that many/most westerners find objectionable. (Creamier, more pungent, stronger flavored, etc). I can better tolerate the âinferiorâ, under ripe version I tried in Thailand. Think mozzarella instead of Limburger.
For those who havenât tried it, I say the flavor is a mixture of peach, onion, rotting animal flesh, and noxious chemical fumes with an appropriately unique texture and appearance.
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While reading this I remembered one video about durian 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIYeWH7cjWg
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I like it, my familiy doesnt and they dont want to talk nor see me when i have eaten one, lol
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Interesting topicâŚ
Several years back i made durian liqueur for some friends and to torment some relatives where deer camp was always a game of gross-out one-upmanshipâŚright this very moment i am in bangkok wrapping up a 2-week trip, and i have seen durian at markets in chiang mai, koh tao, and hereâŚby now my kids who never tried durian recognize the âdurian smellâ in markets.
The liqueur wasnt good to me, my asian friends were deeply impressed so i assume i got it right but it always reminded me of very sweet rotten onion and poop. Just not a taste i ever aquiredâŚ
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Polarizing fruit indeed. I love it. There are so many varieties from creamy to firm. I have not met a durian I donât like except overripe durians. I obviously think Thai durians are the best 
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I agreed that the Thai Durian with the deer brand is the best import in the US.
Tony
