Berburu Durian Merah // Finding RED DURIAN

“Pokoknya aku nggak mau pulang kalo belom ketemu durian merah!”. Yang diancam diem aja, tau kalo ancaman gue itu palsu. Tapi kalimat itu cukup membuktikan kalo gue keukeuh pengen banget berburu durian merah sampe ketemu di tempat yang katanya salah satu surga buah langka ini, sebelum balik ke Jakarta.

I was determined not to leave Sabah before finding the RED DURIAN it is famous for. My husband agreed since he is also a Durian lover. Let’s do this!

Ada banyak tempat  yang katanya kita bisa berburu durian merah. Satu di Banyuwangi, dua di taman buah Mekarsari, dan tiga di sini: Sabah Borneo-Malaysia. Pencarian pun dimulai dengan satu kekecewaan yaitu mendapatkan fakta bahwa bulan Febuari bukan musim durian merah. Tapi kita nggak boleh menyerah gitu aja. Kebetulan suami adalah sesama pecinta durian, jadi kita berdua udah kode-kodean bahwa kita akan mencarinya sampai dapat.

We can also find red durians in Indonesia as well you know. A city called Banyuwangi in East Java is well known for it. Maybe I will hunt them there one day. This time, it’s Sabah. I began my quest by a disappointing statement from people saying that it’s just not the season, so it’s going to be a pretty hard task. But we just refused to give up.

Pertama, kita mencari durian merah di Sunday Market, pasar hari Minggu di jalan Gaya di Kota Kinabalu yang katanya menjual apapun yang kita cari di muka bumi ini. Dari jualan tikus sampe pijet orang buta bisa ditemukan di pasar ini. Ketemu sih beberapa tukang duren, tapi kata mereka durian merah lagi susah ditemukan memang. Penonton kecewa. Uuuuuuu…

First we tried the famous SUNDAY MARKET in Kota Kinabalu. You can find pretty much anything here. Seriously. There were durians here, lots of them, but no red ones. 🙁

 

Kedua, kita berdua nyetir ke Kota Belud untuk berburu durian merah, tempat yang katanya adalah tempat durian merah berasal di Sabah. Kurang lebih 100 km nyetir, kita menemukan bahwa durian merah ini juga lagi nggak ada. Udah jauh-jauh gini nih?

Next we drove 100 km away to a town called BELUD, which is where the Sabah people originally planted the red durian seed. Another disappointment, they have no red durians. Ah, really?

 

 

Ketiga, kita ke daerah Ranau -wilayah pegunungan- di dekat kaki Gunung Kinabalu. Wilayah ini ngetop sebagai kota yang sering menyelenggarakan Festival Durian. Pas nyampe, gue ngeliat banyak sekali penjual durian disini. Tapi ternyata setelah mampir, gue harus kecewa lagi karena mereka hanya menyediakan durian susu dan durian kampung.

Kita nyobain dua-duanya dan menemukan bahwa durian kampung Ranau ternyata unik banget. Ekstra kecil, casing luarnya hijau walau sudah matang, dan rasanya mirip banget sama PISANG.

Yes, durian rasa pisang.

Aneh banget, asli. Gue sampe berpikir, kalo sampe nggak nemu durian merah, minimal gue udah nemuin durian rasa pisang. That doesn’t happen everyday, right? Haha, durian rasa pisang. Tiap kali inget, selalu pengen ketawa.

Next, we drove to an area called RANAU. Here they usually hold a ‘durian festival’. When we arrived we were welcomed by many durian stalls, offering the local products they call ‘village durian’. How about red durian? The answer was the same, not in season and difficult to find. 🙁 So to make us feel better, we tried their ‘village durian’. Surprisingly, it was so unique. It’s very small, green, and it taste like a banana. Yes! It’s so weird, we laughed everytime we remember it. It’s a durian but it tastes like a banana. A funny combo. Well at least if we didn’t find this red durian, we already tried another kind that’s worth to remember.

Tiga kali percobaan, gagal. Percobaan terakhir ialah Pasar Malam di Kota Kinabalu. Kalau Sunday Market tadi hadirnya pagi, pasar malam ya hadirnya pasti malam ya. Ada banyak jenis pasar malam di Kota Kinabalu, tapi yang gue tuju langsung pasar malam khusus produk mentah, seperti ikan, buah-buah dan sayur-sayuran. Pasar yang satu ini membuat gue agak takjub, karena udah lama banget nggak ke pasar basah yang seru dan penuh dengan produk segar yang menggugah selera. Ikan yang mereka jual itu beragam dan semua segar langsung dari lautan. Bener-bener membangunkan jiwa ibu-ibu di dalam gue. HA!

We drove back to Kota Kinabalu and was reminded of the night markets. Yes, Kota Kinabalu has several night markets, and one of them is food market. So went there. This market was wicked! They sell fresh products like fish straight from the sea, veggies, and of course fruits. We wandered around and I saw one stall selling durians right at the corner. Could this be it? please please please.

Di pojokan pasar ini, gue menemukan satu, hanya satu, penjual buah durian. And guess what, mereka menjual durian merah!

I approached, and there it was. RED DURIAN!

Almost kissed the engkoh and encik yang ngejual saking happy-nya. Suami bahkan langsung selfie sendiri sambil makan satu biji tanpa menunggu gue yang belum terlalu siap karena banyaknya barang bawaan di tangan. Ada kamera, ada tas, ada syal. Wait for me! Harga durian merah ini dihitung per kg, yaitu RM 25 per kg (sekitar Rp.90 ribu rupiah / kg). Agak mahal, but who cares? Been looking for it for days in Sabah, just buy the darn thing! Ini buah aneh banget ya, warna dagingnya merah merona, persis seperti warna lipstick perempuan. Belum pernah gue ngeliat yang kayak begini, apalagi nyobain makan.

We didn’t even bargain (they sold it for RM 25 / kg). “We are buying this one please. can we try it now?” My hubby didn’t even wait for me, he ate one while I was still busy putting the camera out of my bag. The color of the durian meat was just fascinating. Candy red lipstick kinda color. Very bright. I have been a durian eater since as long as I can remember, but I have never seen anything like it. It’s so cute. HA!

 

Ada dua mitos sehubungan durian merah ini. Pertama: durian ini jauh lebih memabukkan dibanding durian biasa. Mitos kedua: durian ini nggak punya efek jahat seperti durian biasa. Justru katanya bisa menyembuhkan kencing manis dan darah tinggi. Oh, reaallllyyyy? Dua-duanya masih ada tanda tanya besar di belakangnya, dalam kata lain entah benar atau nggak.

While we were eating, the lady who sold it said that this durian is also different character wise. Usually durians will make you sick if you over eat them. Durians are bad for those who have high blood pressure or diabetics. But she said, red durians is the contrary and can actually help to cure those diseases. Well, i wouldn’t take her words, but you’ll never know.

And so I took my first bite of duren merah. Gue agak norak dalam hal ini, karena durian ini masih jarang sekali dinikmatin sama orang kebanyakan. Sebagai pecinta durian, seneng banget bisa ketemu dan nyobain. Mau tau rasanya? Hm, biasa aja. Hahahahhaa. Jujur bukan favorit gue. Durian merah rasanya lebih berlemak dari durian biasa, dan memang BEDA dari durian pada umumnya. Tapi gue nggak bisa persis cerita beda utamanya apa. Beda aja. Ada bekas nggak di tangan, pink atau merah gitu? Nggak sih, yang ada bekas cuma di kantong aja, soalnya mahal duriannya. Hehe.

Okay, how’s taste? the red durian? Hm, they tasted different than normal durians with slightly unusual texture and flavor. More fatty and mushy in my opinion. The smell was quite different as well. Honestly it was not my favorite. But we were just excited to be able to try one of them, no matter what the taste was like. Mission accomplished!

 

Katanya durian ini sedang di kembang biakkan gila-gilaan di Thailand, Korea, dan Indonesia (Bandung, Bogor dan Blitar). Jadi ya kita tunggu aja, kapan mulai masuk supermarket biar semua orang bisa mencoba. For now, mumpung belom banyak yang nyobain, I am a very happy girl having tried my very first durian merah. Sebelum cabut dari pasar, gue dan suami tos berdua, mission accomplished! 

Akhirnya selesai juga aktifitas berburu durian merah kali ini.

Satu hal doang nih yang kita lupa, yaitu bawa bijinya untuk ditanam di rumah papa mama maupun mertua yang semua memang suka berkebun. Argh. Next time then.

Rumor has it, Indonesians are to make this red durians hype. They plant them everywhere and in several years, it’s going to be very common like any other durian type. Let’s hope it’s true. One thing only we regret from this red durian hunt: we forgot to bring the seed to give to my parents and in-laws who love gardening. Maybe next time.

Yang suka duren ditunggu KOMENTAR kalian dibawah ya😊😬

love it or hate it, but PLEASE try it, at least once.

– olivelatuputty.com/blog @shiningliv