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It's duku langsat (duku in short) fruit season in Malaysia. Our market fruit stalls are simply laden with the fruit. The initial fruits went at a premium but a bountiful harvest subsequently drove prices down.
Describing the duku to someone who's never seen or tasted it can be a fun exercise. I'm going to try.
The spherical and sometimes oval-ish shaped duku grows in tight bunches. Each fruit can grow up to around 4 cm in diameter. Pinch the duku at its tip and the thin light brownish, yellow-ochre skin will split open easily like a sheath to reveal the fleshy edible segments of the fruit within. Don't let the sticky sap from the skin deter you as you tear at it. It stains your finger tips a latex-brown but relax, it washes off easily.
Each fruit holds up to six uneven sized segments that fall away easily from a thin white fibrous core as you peel the skin away. The flesh of the duku has a creamy and translucent appearance. It has a firm, gelatinous texture and is sweet to taste with just a hint of tartness. I like that it has a chew-factor that makes me want to pop in one segment after another.
Sometimes the fruit is seedless but usually at least one segment holds a pistachio-like seed. The duku seed is bitter. It's easy to spot through the translucent flesh but accidents happen.
So wear your spirit of adventure on your taste buds and try the duku when you come across it next time. Let me know what you think! In class, we can practise describing any fruit. This can be challenging fun.
Note: Thank you to those who have written to let me know you enjoy reading my column but daren't take a lesson because there are parts you don't really understand. I assure you we'll always speak at a level which suits you so that we can enjoy a casual conversation. Also, we can go through words and sentences that are difficult so that we learn together. Perhaps, they will be easy then and we'll always have something to talk about. No stress!
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