Cempedak 3

Continuing on from the previous two blips, this morning I opened the refrigerator door with great apprehension. I was pleasantly surprised as the dangerous odor had subsided considerably. I suspect that the source of the odor was the sugary secretion that was coating the fruit and a combination of washing the fruit and cooling has suppressed the smell formation. Either that or I was becoming accustomed to the aroma, which does happen. I put my face closer to the shelf, the heavy odor was still there, but somehow didn?t seem so objectionable. The cempedak skin had browned quite a bit, not sure if this is a result of two days in the cooler or natural ageing.

Problems that occur when trying fruits for the very first time, is knowing how to open the fruit and knowing which bit you actually eat. Some fruits are a nightmare and will take several attempts before you get the knack of opening. I was tempted to run through a few examples, but I think I will save them for future blips.

Fruits generally conform to a common construction of skin, flesh, core and seeds. Were they differ is which bit(s) you eat and which you discard. Think of apples, oranges and bananas, which bits do you eat and which do you throw away.

Unlike the durian, there are no obvious seams or lines of entry, so I decided to insert the blade through the flesh at the stalk end and cut length ways down both sides, judging the depth of the cut by resistance rather than cutting all the way through. This was not working out, so I extended the depth deeper and then deeper. Now I could feel lumps of resistance and it was obvious that I was cutting into seed stones, but they were cutting through. So, committed, I went ahead and cut in half, at least it would make for an informative photograph.

The outer skin and thin flesh was inedible. There was a thick, stringy central core, also inedible. Radiating out from the core were seed stones covered in a thick yellow, sweet slimy membrane and this was definitely edible.

I then started to wrestle with the slimy pods, trying to remove them from the casing. I tried levering with a blunt knife, but nothing was working. There had to be an easier way or this was going to take an hour or more. Next, I tackled the stringy core, which was kind of getting in the way of operations. I snipped through the core at the stem end and pulled at it. The core neatly stripped out, leaving the seed pods much more accessible. I then lifted up the casing and bent it in-side-out, this was the solution, the pods opened up like magic. Using two fingers and a thumb, the seed pods popped out easily and were placed in a dish. At this point, I took the blip photograph.

There was some odor, but it was minimal and a lot less than I was expecting. Altogether, I counted ninety good seed pods, with about another dozen not formed completely. The pods filled two cereal bowls. I covered one and placed it back in the fridge and settled down with the other to watch a DVD.

The flavor was distinctly almond and not as overpowering as I was expecting. The feel in the mouth was slimy but not objectionable. Separating the flesh from the stone took a little practice, with a combination of teeth, tongue, sucking and the occasional help from my index finger, the job was doable and after half a dozen, the skill was mastered. The stones were not edible, but Iain informs me that they can be boiled up, so I kept them to one side.

After finishing the whole bowl, I was quite full. Although there was very little meat on each stone, it was very filling and I doubt that I will be eating again for the rest of the day. Altogether a pleasant experience, which I would definitely do again.

Next time, I will use kitchen scissors, insert under the skin and cut around the fruit length ways and then tear apart. This way none of the pods will be damaged. Opening and removing all the pods should not take more than a few minutes on the next attempt.

The cempedak was definitely a durian type fruit, with a similar flavor and construction. But whereas the durian flavor is very strong and overpowering, the cempedak was much lighter and quite pleasant. The worst thing about durian is the after taste. It is worse than grilled kippers and will stay with you and anyone who stands too close to you, for at least 24 hours. The cempedak too, has a slight after taste. The room smell did not linger for long, unlike the durian, which will stink your house out for days.

I had decided to saved half of the fruit to share with my security guys in the early hours, in the hope of extracting another blip out of this fruity experience. But I have greedily changed my mind and will consume the other bowl tomorrow and come up with another blip plan. This concludes the cempedak experience and I hope that you were suitably entertained.

Dave