Updated on 13 October 2026: facts checked against scientific and official sources. Added what makes durian smell, what it tastes like and a sourced note on durian and alcohol, and removed health claims we couldn’t support. First published in February 2023.
Durian is a large, spiky tropical fruit from Southeast Asia, often called the “king of fruits”. Inside the hard husk is soft, custard-like flesh that many people love. Its smell is so strong that the fruit is kept off buses and out of many hotels.
At a glance
- What it is: the fruit of Durio trees, most commonly Durio zibethinus.
- Where it’s eaten: across Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines. Popular varieties include Monthong and Musang King.
- Why it’s unusual: a sweet, creamy fruit with a sulfurous smell that many people find hard to get past.
Why durian smells so strong
Researchers at the Technical University of Munich measured the odour compounds in Monthong durian. They found fruity esters alongside powerful sulfur compounds such as ethanethiol, which smells of rotten onion. Just two compounds, a fruity ester and a roasted-onion-smelling thiol, were enough to recreate the overall durian smell (Li, Schieberle & Steinhaus, 2017).
When the durian genome was sequenced in 2017, it turned out the fruit has extra copies of genes for making volatile sulfur compounds, and these are switched on strongly as the fruit ripens (Nature News). Scientists quoted there describe the smell as onion-like, sulfury or like fried shallots, and some first-time visitors mistake it for a gas leak.
Banned on buses and in hotels
Singapore’s public bus rules say passengers may not bring durians on board unless they are vacuum-sealed or otherwise packed so they won’t cause discomfort to others (LTA Conditions of Carriage). Many hotels in the region have similar “no durian” signs.
What does it taste like?
We tasted it: not yet. UglyFood hasn’t done a first-hand tasting for this article, so the description below is reported.
What others report: fans describe ripe durian as sweet, rich and custardy, with notes of caramel and onion. How strong it tastes depends a lot on the variety and how ripe the fruit is.
How it’s eaten
Durian is most often eaten fresh, straight from the opened husk. It is also used in ice cream, cakes, sweets, pastries and sticky-rice desserts.
Durian and alcohol: what the science says
It’s an old warning in Southeast Asia that you shouldn’t eat durian while drinking alcohol. A 2009 laboratory study by Maninang, Lizada and Gemma in Food Chemistry found that sulfur-rich durian extract partly blocked aldehyde dehydrogenase, an enzyme the body uses to break down a by-product of alcohol. Blocking this enzyme causes unpleasant reactions like flushing and nausea.
The test used a yeast enzyme in a test tube, not people, so it doesn’t show what happens when someone eats durian and drinks. It is a possible explanation for the folk warning, not proof. If you’re unsure, the cautious choice is not to mix the two.
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More acquired tastes in Weird Eats.
Sources
- Li, Schieberle & Steinhaus, “Insights into the key compounds of durian (Durio zibethinus L. ‘Monthong’) pulp odor”, J. Agric. Food Chem. 65(3), 2017
- Nature News, “How the durian got its sulfuric stench”, 2017
- Maninang, Lizada & Gemma, “Inhibition of aldehyde dehydrogenase enzyme by durian (Durio zibethinus Murray) fruit extract”, Food Chemistry 117(2), 2009
- Land Transport Authority (Singapore), Conditions of Carriage for Public Buses
