What Does Durian Taste Like?

What does durian taste like? This is where the comparisons get weird

You have probably heard the usual durian flavour description: sweet custard mixed with onion. It sounds made up. It is also not a terrible starting point. The problem is that it makes durian sound like one fixed flavour.

It really is not.

The science actually explains why people can describe the same fruit in completely different ways. A 2025 review of durian's volatile compounds identified esters and sulphur compounds as two of the main groups involved in its aroma. Esters bring a lot of the fruity side. Sulphur compounds are behind much of that famous onion-like character.

Thai Monthong gets even stranger when you look at the research. Scientists have identified important odorants described as fruity, honey-like, caramel-like, sulphurous and roasted-onion-like. That is quite a list for one fruit.

So the person saying "fruit" and the person saying "onion" can both be onto something. Those flavours do not have to cancel each other out. They can sit in the same durian.

Then I tried durian myself — and finally got it

Here is the slightly ridiculous part. I have travelled through Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore numerous times, but the durian I remember properly eating was back home at our local Vietnamese restaurant in Manchester.

Laura and I used to go there all the time. The lady who ran it was super friendly and one day she just gave us some durian to try. Free durian. I was obviously saying yes.

First surprise: the smell was nowhere near as brutal as I had been expecting. I remember immediately thinking, "Have we just been given a really good one?"

One thing I cannot tell you is the variety. I do not know what we were given, so I am not going to turn around now and call it Monthong, Chani, Musang King or anything else. And the mango I tasted near the seed? That was my experience with that piece, not a rule for every durian.

That is why my answer to what durian tastes like depends on which bit of the experience you ask me about. The first bite and the last bit near the seed did not taste the same to me.

Laura made the point even better without trying to. This was her second time eating durian. She had hated the first one. She liked this one.

Two people liking one piece does not prove we had some perfect, award-winning durian. It does make me very wary of judging the whole fruit from one try, especially when cultivars and stages of maturity genuinely differ.

Does durian actually taste like onions? Yes, it can

I used to think the onion comparison was one of those internet descriptions that had been repeated until everybody accepted it. Turns out there is real chemistry behind it.

Researchers studying Thai Monthong durian have identified several very potent sulphur-containing aroma compounds with descriptions including roasted onion, rotten onion, cabbage and sulphurous notes.

Suddenly my sweet caramelised onion description does not sound quite so ridiculous. Research on Monthong has found roasted-onion-like and caramel-like odorants alongside extremely potent fruity ones.

I cannot reverse-engineer the piece I ate from that research. We do not know its variety and nobody analysed it in a lab. I can only say the flavours I noticed line up surprisingly well with the kinds of aroma compounds scientists have found in durian.

If the smell is the bit that has you curious, I went much further into the chemistry in our guide to why durian smells so bad .

What is durian texture like? "Custard" only tells you half the story

People love comparing durian texture to custard. Fair enough. Very soft durian can absolutely head in that direction. But it is not the only texture you can get.

Some flesh is relatively firm and dense. Some is thick and creamy. Some gets so soft that the custard comparison suddenly feels very accurate. Think range, not one fixed texture.

Thailand's Department of Agricultural Extension even uses texture when it describes major cultivars. Kan Yao and Kradum Thong are both described as sweet, firm and mellow.

Ripeness changes things as well. Research following Monthong through different maturity stages found big changes in firmness as the fruit developed.

Mine was soft throughout, but not evenly soft. The outside had a bit more resistance and the flesh became softer further in. Small difference. Definitely noticeable.

Again, that is one piece of durian, not a universal pattern. But it is exactly why I would not answer "what is durian texture like?" with one word. Custard can be right. It is just not always the whole answer.

Is durian sweet? Very often, yes

Durian can be properly sweet. That part gets weirdly buried under all the smell jokes, but sweetness is a major part of why people actually enjoy eating it.

Official Thai agricultural information describes Mon Thong, Kan Yao, Chani, Kradum Thong and Puang Ma Nee as sweet.

The fun part is that sweet does not mean simple. A durian can be sweet and still have sulphurous, savoury, fruity or slightly bitter notes around it. That clash is a big reason comparisons get so messy.

And yes, different durian varieties really do taste different

This was another thing I had not really appreciated before digging into durian. "Durian" is the broad name. Under that, you have different cultivars with their own characteristics.

Research comparing cultivars has found measurable differences in volatile compounds, sugars, organic acids and other taste components. So when durian fans start arguing about varieties, they are not inventing differences out of thin air.

These are broad cultivar descriptions, not guarantees. Two Mon Thong durians do not magically become identical because they share a name. Fruit still varies.

That study was on Monthong, so I would not stretch it into a rule for every durian on earth. It does give us a clear example of how much maturity can change the eating experience.

Which brings me back to Laura. One durian: hated it. Another durian: liked it. Same fruit category, clearly not the same experience.

Trying durian for the first time? Do not turn it into a dare

I would not treat your first durian like an endurance test. If somebody is filming your face while telling you it is going to taste disgusting, you are hardly getting a neutral introduction.

It is fruit. A very strange fruit, yes. But still fruit.

1. 01
   Buy it from someone who actually knows durian A specialist seller, market vendor, restaurant or somebody who genuinely knows the fruit can help you get something at a sensible stage of maturity.
2. 02
   Ask which durian variety it is If the cultivar is known, ask. Even if the name means nothing to you yet, it gives you something useful to remember if you love it — or absolutely hate it.
3. 03
   Ask about the texture Firmer or softer flesh can change the experience more than you might expect. If you have a preference, say it.
4. 04
   Start with a small amount Durian is rich. You really do not need to sit there with an entire fruit to discover whether you like it.
5. 05
   Give the flavour a chance to move Do not decide what the whole thing tastes like from the first second. Mine changed a lot as I ate through the piece, and that was the part I enjoyed most.

Is Monthong a good durian for beginners?

Monthong is a sensible name to ask about in Thailand. Official Thai information describes Mon Thong as sweet, while recent research on premium Monthong discusses relatively mild aroma and firm texture.

I would stop well short of saying "Monthong is the best beginner durian". There is no objectively correct first variety. Some people want softer fruit, stronger aroma, more bitterness or a different level of sweetness.

If the seller knows their durian, tell them it is your first time. I would trust a good recommendation from the fruit in front of them over a rigid internet rule about one "best" beginner variety.

In Thailand, "the smelly fruit" version starts to fall apart

This is the bit I find much more interesting than the reaction videos.

In Thailand, durian is not one anonymous spiky fruit. Named cultivars such as Mon Thong, Kan Yao, Chani, Kradum Thong and Puang Ma Nee have their own characteristics. People can care about sweetness, aroma, ripeness and whether the flesh is firmer or softer.

Sellers can open the fruit, judge ripeness and help people pick around their preferences. That is a completely different world from "eat the smelly fruit and film somebody's reaction".

And after learning all of that, "what is durian like?" starts to feel like the wrong question. A much better one is: which durian?

Now the "King of Fruits" nickname makes a lot more sense

Outside Southeast Asia, the smell steals the show. Start looking at how people actually choose and eat durian and the picture gets much bigger very quickly.

Named cultivars. Preferences for firmness and sweetness. Ripeness. Aroma. Sellers who know what to open. Buyers who know what they like. There is a proper food culture sitting behind the fruit.

And people have been arguing about the smell while praising the taste for a very long time. Historical accounts discussed by Singapore's National Library Board show that this is hardly a modern durian debate.

Which leaves one very obvious question: how did a fruit this divisive end up being called the King of Fruits?

View the Thai King of Fruits print

From the fruit to the print

The story behind our Thai King of Fruits Durian Poster

The more I learn about durian, the more boring the one-note "smelly fruit" version becomes.

In Thailand there are named varieties, preferences around sweetness and firmness, sellers judging ripeness and a proper culture around choosing and eating the fruit. That real Thai story — not just the smell joke — is what sits behind our King of Fruits print.

View the durian print Explore Thailand prints