World's smelliest fruit gets a makeover

YOU can take the sugar out of soft drinks and the fat from junk food. But eliminate the pungent odour from what may be the world's smelliest fruit and brace for an international controversy.

The durian, a spiky fruit native to South-East Asia, has been variously described by its detractors as smelling like garbage, mouldy cheese or rotting fish. It is banned from many hotels, airlines and the Singapore subway. But durian lovers are convinced that, like fine French cheeses, the worse the smell, the better the taste.

Under the durian's hardy shell are sections of pale yellow flesh with a consistency that can be as soft and oozy as custard and a flavour that is nutty and sweet, with hints of vanilla and an occasional bitter bite.

"To anyone who doesn't like durian it smells like a bunch of dead cats," said Bob Halliday, a food writer in Bangkok.

"But as you get to appreciate durian, the smell is not offensive at all. It's attractive. It makes you drool like a mastiff."

Nevertheless, a Thai Government scientist, who after three decades of research is one of the world's leading durian experts, now says he has managed to excise its stink.

Working at an orchard near the Cambodian border, the scientist, Songpol Somsri, crossed more than 90 varieties of durian and came up with a fruit that he says smells as mild as a banana.

Durian lovers are at once disbelieving of and horrified by the prospect of a no-smell durian. They complain that the fruit is being homogenised like the insipid tomatoes bred to look pretty behind plastic wrap.

"I don't think it's possible to make a durian that doesn't smell," said Somchai Tadchang, the owner of a durian orchard on Kret, an island on the Chao Phraya river north of Bangkok. "Anyway, durians actually smell good. Only rotten durians stink."

Dr Songpol experimented with hundreds of combinations before coming up with Chantaburi No. 1. This year's harvest is not yet ripe but those who have smelled and tasted last year's say the fruit has a very faint odour.

Suchart Vichitrananda, the director of the Horticultural Research Centre, says Chantaburi No. 1 does not smell but he hesitates when describing the taste. "I can't say it's better than the original durian, but it'll do."