Susu Durian! This literally means “Milk Durian” (Susu is the Malay word for milk) and it was one of the durians on my To Eat list in Penang. I’ve heard a lot of good things about this durian and couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into it.
However, I was a little wary about the durians I came across since they all didn’t have a stem. This is usually a VERY BAD sign – especially since all three (3) of the Susu Durians were missing their stem. The likelihood of all 3 falling on the stem (it happens, but rarely) is quite small so a durian missing its stem can mean a range of nefarious things – it was cut before it was ripe or a chemical agents were used to induce ripening.
Nevertheless, since I’ve never had a Susu Durian before and this was the only stall carrying it, I took a chance. I really wanted to try the famous (among durian connoisseurs) Susu Durian. The husk can range from green to yellow and doesn’t seem to indicate ripeness, I chose my own for this one. This cost RM 18/kg and weighed in at 1.7 kg for a total of RM 31 for the durian.
The Susu Durian was slightly overripe in some places, slightly under in some places and absolutely perfect in some. I want to emphasize the slightly bit – the over/under is barely noticeable, it just so happens that I was alone and had this durian to myself so I could think and savor at the same time. This could be due to its unusual shape or to possible abovementioned roguish intervention. I can’t really tell, to be honest.
Amazingly, it has several different tastes in the durian – one segment was bittersweet to bitter and one *perfect* segment was intensely sweet, with only sweet tones and that one smelled and tasted remarkably like milk (which, I gather, is why it got the name). The flesh really tasted so much like cow’s milk that I was quite taken aback. A very nice durian, among the best I ate this year.
There’s little to no fibre in the Milk Durian and the snow white flesh rates as one of the creamiest durian I ever had, in the literal sense. It’s as creamy as a good Black Thorn with some of the stickiness you’ll find in a Ganja Durian (also known as D158 Ganyao/Kan Yao/Tangkai Panjang). I highly recommend a Penang Susu Durian if you come across one. 🙂
ah, i miss Penang and its durian, its has been 2 month that I didn’t go back there liao..
Yeah, Penang durians are the best in Malaysia! 🙂
It has consistently produced awesome durians, from D175/Red Prawn/Udang Merah/Ang Heh to Black Thorn/Ochee/Duri Hitam.
Wow, this is the first time I’ve heard of Durian Susu. It does look creamy too. I ate a lot of durian in my childhood days, I kind of get turned off by them now as I preferred tempoyak.
It’s quite a famous Penang durian. 🙂
I headed there to eat this Susu Durian too. There were 25 pax of us, all family, and some of the uncles said they wanted to eat durian too but I was the most committed one. I didn’t talk much, just went to search and destroy (with my tummy). Haha.
just when i thought you might have run out of durians to sample … you haven’t! i’m super-impressed! 🙂 i’ve never heard of durian susu, so this was very educational to read … all the tidbits to know, like the stuff about the stem. and now i’m very curious to try it myself – the combination of flavour and texture sounds fascinating. i’m heading to penang in three weeks, so maybe i’ll go look for this! 😀
I don’t think I ever will! 🙂
You need to eat close over 300 durians to get through the most common durio zibethinus species (number might be closer to 400-500) and that’s not counting other species like our Sarawak/Sabah Borneo jungle durians. There’s a lot of durians to eat, and hybrids are being bred all the time, like the D144 (hybrid of D2 and D24) which I just got to sample this year.
I cannot even. LOL. I don’t like milk.. and I don’t like durian. This is so not for me! hahaha 😛 But please ..don’t let me rain on your parade, or anyone else who likes durian for that matter ! 😀
I love both! 🙂
I love milk and I love durian, although milky durians aren’t always the best ones. I prefer durians with more character and some days you like sweet ones, some days you’re looking for a bitter profile, some days you want a creamy durian, some days you want fibre in your durian so there’s one for every day.
Have never heard of this Susu Durian but I love bitter flesh durians.
You’ll love D88 then! 🙂
The late season D88 Durians that I’ve had are wonderfully bitter, I have a good seller near my place that comes out with great D88 durians:
http://sixthseal.com/2015/08/d88-durian/
wow susu durian! this is my first time hearing and seeing this. probably i had them before but never knew. Really excited to try them.
Still durian season?
Yeah, it’s still durian season. 🙂
It’s near the end of the season though, but some breeds are still coming out – D24, D101, D88, Musang King etc. The early season durians like D13 are all gone though. Hmm…you have to specifically ask for Susu Durian, it’s hard to get these durians outside of Penang.
Erm, no thanks. I don’t take durians at all, haha xD
I eat durian almost everyday! 🙂
I waded through a 5.4 kg D159 Monthong all by myself in the span of 24 hours. It was all that I ate – no other food except that gigantic durian. Haha.
That is one of the crazier things in nature I have ever seen! lol! – http://www.domesticgeekgirl.com
Yeah, we also have a red durian where I come from! 🙂
It’s not red as in “orange” but red as in lipstick solid red, a rouge-magenta shade that’s so deep it’s almost unreal. It’s our Sarawak (and Sabah) Borneo jungle durians and it’s quite good. The season just started over there, the timing is slightly different coz there’s a sea in between.
I have eaten some durian kampung that tastes like milk too with no fiber at all but I guess must try Penang durian susu to know the difference. Your Durian post is killing me because I need to wait till the weekend to see whether there are any more durians left for me to buy and eat.