King & Queen of fruits

It turns out that several fruits that I like very much are in season. First, the "king of fruits," the durian. I really like durian. Very flavorful. The other day, we had durian milk shakes in the basement of Raffle's (right off People's Square). It was GOOD! One thing I did not realize is that there are four different kinds of durian. The best ones are called "long-stemmed durians" because they have...long stems. The best long-stemmed durians are from Rayang (Eastern Thailand). A region just outside of Bangkok also used to be famous for durians, but the prime durian land has been sold to developers to build housing tracts. Another thing I never thought too much about is that different people like durians at different degrees of ripeness; more ripe equals more sweet, but also more "fragrant". A good durian seller will have a little felt mallet; you strike the durian gently and if it makes a hollow sound, this indicates that the fruit is more ripe (as it ripens, the sweet pulp starts to pull away from the skin, creating a hollow space that will resonate when the skin is struck). A durian that is too ripe will emanate a powerful fragrance even before you break it open. A good durian seller will ask you how you want your durian, and can then pick the perfect fruit to suit your taste. Here are durians at the market we went to this morning:



The "queen of fruits" is the mangosteen (known as "shanzhu" (mountain bamboo) in Chinese). According to traditional ying-yang theory, the mangosteen is a "cold" fruit and balances out the "hot" durian; too much of one without the other and you might get sick. Here are mangosteens (60 cents/kilogram) at the market we went to yesterday afternoon (the saleswoman, incidentally, was from Guangzhou; her Mandarin was a little off, but her Cantonese was good):





Finally, my old favorite, the lychee, is also in season. Chiangmai is famous for its lychees. We bought the expensive kind ($1/kilogram), sweet with very small seeds: