Different kinds of durians

We have only ONE durian tree in our back yard and we have been enjoying its fruits, though not every year. However.once in a while, it has even give us two seasons of fruiting in a single year!!

Our durian is of the tembaga type, planted by the first owner of our house, probably in the mid 80's.




I love the tree when it is flowering heavily, although that is not a sure sign that we will a good harvest. When it flowers, I would photograph the flowers every day.

One year we counted only 40 fruits on the tree, but a few dropped. That was a good year and every one who knew came to enjoy one or two.

There are many kinds of durians. Some are sweet, some are bitter sweet, some are very pungent and some are quite tasteless. Some are commercial durians while some are called jungle or wild durians.

Those specially selected by the Ibans to grow from seed are usually very fleshy and are highly valued by family members. Therefore when folks sell their durians, they normally say, "This is special type of durians, grown by my grandmother." If that is the truth, then the durian is good.

That is the reason why many local people will go to certain villages to buy durians when they know they are fruiting.

The tembaga  is by far the most traditional and authentic of the durians of Sarawak. The flesh is thick, sweet and once in a while a little bitter. The texture is soft and creamy, and never dry. Many families grow tembaga because they know what is really good.





There are many durians which have been grafted and after a few years of producing fruits, the quality will decline. However a traditional durian which is not grafted will continue to produce the same quality of durians for as long as 80 years!!

There are a few different TYPES of durians now developed in Malaysia. These are called commercial durias which are exported.

And basically there are 5 varieties of jungle or wild durians in Sarawak,namely durian ukak(durio kutejensis),durian isu(durio oxleyanus),durian isi merah(durio graveolens),durian kura-kura(durio testudinaran) and durian kulit merah(durio dulcis).(Xiao Feng Huang)


The durian with the whiskers is called nyekak

This orange durian is also a variety of nyekak