A Nation Goes for Dominance—of World’s Stinkiest Fruit

livemint.com:

Chinese farmer Wei Fuyou clearly remembers the moment four years ago when he first watched a video clip showing that durian, a pungent fruit with a smell reminiscent of gym socks, could be grown on the tropical island of Hainan, where he lives. “That means I can grow them, too!" he recalls yelping. Wei promptly cut down some of his betel nut palms and planted 400 durian trees in their place.

Never mind his own initial disgust with durians, a spiky fruit native to Southeast Asia, whose yellow flesh some have likened to “vomit-flavored custard." The excitement was driven by Wei’s 1.4 billion countrymen, many of whom are crazy for the stinky delicacy. The fruit has become so beloved in China that it consumed $4.2 billion worth of durians last year, about four times the value from 2018. To get its fix, however, China relies almost exclusively—for now—on Southeast Asia, where conditions are perfect for the fickle fruit.

Now, Wei is part of China’s quest to become more self-reliant in durian production. As Beijing has done with other critical technologies it hopes to master, such as semiconductors and quantum computing, Wei and other Chinese are racing to unlock the secrets of durian cultivation. It is a challenging quest.

While the durian fruit is hard and sturdy on the outside, the tree itself is extremely sensitive to cold and dryness. Only the very southernmost parts of China—like Hainan island—have the tropical climate suitable to grow durian. Even then, success is far from assured.

Only a combination of patience and technique can coax the durian from its spiky shell. That’s where Gerald Miow comes in. Miow is a 62-year-old fertilizer entrepreneur in Malaysia, and author of a 200-page treatise on the durian.