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Fruit fans create a stink over odourless durian

By Jess Halliday

http://www.nutraingredients.com/news/ng.asp? 
n=75699&m=1NIE412&c=geksykedpufrjsz

12/04/2007 - A scientist in Thailand has reported success in a  
decades-long quest to produce an odourless variety of the infamous  
durian fruit - but aficionados claim this amounts to removal of  
fruit's most appealing quality.


The green, spiky durian fruit, native to South East Asia, is widely  
thought to be the smelliest in the world. The odour it gives off when  
ripe has been compared to garbage, dirty laundry and dead cats, and  
is so pungent that it the fruit it banned in many hotels and some  
airlines.

Dr Songpol Somsri, senior agricultural scientist at the Horticulture  
Research Institute of Thailand's Department of Agriculture, said this  
week that through an extensive cross-breeding programme involving 90  
varieties he has finally created a variety of the fruit with a smell  
no more offensive than that of a banana.

According to the New York Times, the new fruit, dubbed Chantadubi  
Number One after Dr Somsri's home town, is expected to obtain final  
approval in the coming weeks from Thailand's Ministry of Agriculture.

While the innovation may persuade more people to try the durian -  
both intrepid tourists and consumers in importing countries - so far  
it has met with an unfavourable reaction from durian purists. They  
say that smellier the durian the better its taste, and when you get  
used to the smell it really isn't that bad.

What is more, in Asian markets the stronger the smell of the durian  
the higher the price it commands.

Dr Somsri is reportedly continuing his research into the fruit,  
striving to breed a spikeless variety and mapping the DNA so that he  
may, one day, be able to identify the gene responsible for the smell.

Thailand is the world's biggest producer of the green spikey fruit.  
The New York Times cited figures that Thailand last year sold about  
50 million durians abroad, worth about $90 million.

The durian is best known for its distinctive smell, but it is also a  
source of several beneficial nutrients and is reputed to be an  
aphrodisiac.