Durian in India

Because I love durian, I wanted to do a post on durian in India even though it remains pretty obscure here. This is more of a preliminary post that I will continue to update as I discover more. I hope to visit some farms that grow durian in India in the coming years.

I am writing this after finally sampling some Indian grown durian, from Mangosteen Fruit Express. If you just want to order some durian you can see that part towards the end. They ship regularly to Bangalore, so I highly recommend this for Bangalore folks during the season (roughly April through June), though you can also get it shipped to other cities, more info later. Before this I’ve never seen a durian in India. 

If you’re clueless about durian you can see my post about the durian tour I did in Thailand. If you’re still confused you can google it but just know that there’s a lot of misinformation out there about durian. Be mindful of that. If you read anything bad about durian it should definitely trigger your fake news alarm bells. Don’t buy into the anti-durian propaganda, which I believe to be a CCP plot to suppress global durian demand so they can buy it at a lower price. I don’t blame them, I too want to buy durian at a lower price, but my commitment to truth and my need to share the things I love with the world has led me to write this post anyway. 

If anybody has more insight into India’s durian scene, let me know, or leave a comment!

Though it is pretty rare, Durian grows in small quantities in some southern states of India (I can confirm that it grows in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka). The season is, broadly, summer, though the exact times depend on the region. It is not native, and was first brought by the Portuguese and later planted by the British in experimental gardens. I believe Northeast India can also grow it, though I haven’t heard of any farms growing it yet. (It seems like a potentially good cultural fit there?) 

(Random aside: People intuitively think durian is related to jackfruit, which is of course much more popular in India, and which has some similarities in its flavor and aroma. In fact, they are unrelated, but durian is actually closely related to cacao and okra! I don’t see the connection, personally.)

There’s not a lot of good information on durian in India, and part of the problem is that there’s a popular furniture brand called Durian. Any searches of “Durian [whatever place in India you are looking for]” will just give you furniture. This is one of those cases where ChatGPT is better for searching because you can tell it you want fruit and not furniture, but even then I didn’t get far. 

I found the most amount of information on youtube, but it’s not really information, it’s just videos posted mostly by Malayali farmers, or by random people eating things. Apparently you get durian in Chennai? Maybe it’s not so uncommon in South India? Though I love South India, I’ve never visited between May and August, and I don’t want to. 

Thankfully my friend Lindsay at Year of the Durian, whom I did the Thailand tour with and is one of the world’s leading durian experts, visited India in the summer of 2013 and has writeups on the two top durian growing areas. What is fascinating to learn is that though durian is not at all popular in India, it is very popular in two places where it seems primarily consumed as a fertility treatment and is able to command a very high price! 

One is the State Horticulture Farm in Burliyar (gmaps), in the Nilgiris on the road between Coimbatore and Ooty/Coonoor. Before reading Lindsay’s post I had never heard of this, though I once took a cab from Coimbatore to Ooty. (That was not during durian season, though, so I don’t feel I missed out.) She got it directly from the farm, but it is also sold in the market where locals pay top dollar for its alleged fertility benefits. Lindsay raved about the durian she had there. She says the season is July and August, though when I emailed them (at shfburliar@gmail.com) in July 2024 they said the season is running late and they won’t get durian until the off season. I emailed them again in August and never heard back and forgot about it. 

There’s also a post from Linday’s ex-partner on the durian grown in Courtallam, near the border of TN and Kerala. Though I didn’t know durian is grown there, I actually knew of Courtallam, having seen Courtallam Border Parotta shops across Tamil Nadu, plus I’ve heard of its waterfalls, which feature in many bad South Indian movies that I regret watching. More exciting than parathas and the region’s beautiful scenery is the State Horticultural Farm and Eco Park (gmaps), where the durian grows. Beyond this farm, “Durian is not a major crop here. I am told that some estate owners have a few trees each, high up on the mountain slopes, and that is pretty much the extent of cultivation.”

Unfortunately the visit he wrote about was just after the June durian season. Still, there was plenty of durian to be found in the town, either brought in from Burliar or Thailand. I found this all stunning: “Durian was all over the place … Most of the numerous fruit vendors had a few durians on display. About half of the durian being sold was from Thailand … The asking price was high, around 700 rupees a kilogram, or $25 per pound! … That leaves the other half, which must be local, right? Well, sort of. While this durian is from India, it actually came from Burliar … selling for slightly less than its Thai counterpart, around 600 rupees per kilogram.” 

I find the hyper localized demand to be fascinating from a sociological perspective. It grows there in small quantities, and so there is awareness of it. The people from there are thus willing to pay exorbitant amounts of money to the extent that it is even imported. Meanwhile pretty much the rest of India has no demand!

There’s also a post about finding fresh (not frozen) durian at the fancy supermarket in the fancy shopping mall in Kochi, imported from Thailand. I’ve been to numerous fancy supermarkets in India and have never come across durian! So is this just a Kerala thing? Or a Lulu Mall thing? (It was the first mall of the Lulu Group, run by the world’s richest Malayali, and it opened in 2013, so maybe they just went all out there at least at first.)

All of those posts are from 2013, and I haven’t seen any India durian travelogues since, other than one 2023 blog post mentioning durian in Ooty's markets. I’m very curious how much things have changed! Do you still get imported durian in Courtallam and the Kochi mall? Have people started liking the taste, or is it just a fertility thing? Is the fertility thing just an excuse to eat it? Since consumption is very local and this has been going on for a while now, you’d think people would get some sense of whether it works or not as a fertility treatment, right? (I’m a natural skeptic who instinctively rolls eyes at such things…) 

Beyond those locations, I found an article that said durian grows in the Kallar Horticulture Farm (gmaps), close to Burliar, with the season from February through April, a much better time for me, but a google search of the place pulled up articles that said they are no longer open to the public. 

The article, from 2015, also mentions not just high demand for durians, with people reserving them months before the harvest, but also for the saplings from the orchards. “Earlier, only farmers from Kerala used to buy the saplings. However, there seems to be more awareness now among farmers in Tamil Nadu. Those having coconut groves buy the saplings.”

And slowly but surely it seems to be growing in popularity. Not much, but from super obscure to just pretty obscure. I guess. I don’t know how to quantify interest based on scattered Dravidian language farmer videos on Youtube, but those definitely count for something. 

It’s started showing up on menus here and there, too. The most exciting for me was its inclusion on one of the seasonal tasting menus at Ekaa, where they put it in a dessert course paired with buffalo milk brie. (I did not go for this menu, alas, but I have had one meal at Ekaa and it was excellent, very creative and delicious!) This durian was sourced from Kerala. I hope to see more top restaurants experiment with it. (Though if it were my restaurant, I’d go all Chez Panisse on them and serve it straight up.) At one of the world's most renowned Indian restaurants (in Bangkok, of course), you get tandoori durian on the tasting menu, and I see no reason why I can't get such things in Mumbai. Let's dream big!

It’s also served in ice cream at Burma Burma, a chain of Burmese restaurants that you’ll find in many big cities around the country. I haven’t tried this, nor do I know if they use fresh durian or frozen durian or powder, or if it’s sourced from India or imported, or anything else. (They didn’t respond to my emails.)

That’s all I could find from it on menus, though I have seen expensive small packets of freeze dried durian at fancy grocery stores, imported from Thailand. I’m not sure if anyone buys those. 

As for fresh Indian-grown durian, I am happy that I have finally been able to sample some, thanks to the good people at Mangosteen Fruit Express, doing very important work for humanity and Bharat. They have their own plantation in Karnataka (near Mangalore, to be a bit more specific) where they grow a range of exotic fruit that you don’t often see in India. Their durian grows from April through June. Durian is an expensive fruit, but I felt their prices (which fluctuate during the season) were very reasonable. Along with the durian, we also got mangosteen, and if you ever order I would ask what fruits they have at the moment.

They ship regularly to Bangalore and have a good cold chain setup to get it there safely (they send pre-cut boxes of durian, but if you request you can probably get a whole one as well, just keep in mind it’s not easy to cut). If you are in Bangalore you must contact them! (I am sad that I’m writing this at the tail end of the durian season, but bookmark this for the future.) They also supply durian to an ice cream maker in Bangalore called Desi Fresh, you can try asking about that too. And… durian halwa? I've had excellent durian chocolate bars in Thailand, maybe they can consider collaborating with some craft chocolate makers in the future.

If you don’t live in Bangalore or somewhere conveniently near their farm… you can try ordering it but the shipping options just aren’t great. Still, recommended! (Just remember you'll have to cut it, as these would be whole durians. Here’s a short video, here’s a more in depth guide.)

We were in Mumbai during the 2025 durian season and twice got it sent by an overnight bus, but both times the bus broke down and what was supposed to be a 24 hour trip turned into a 48 hour trip. Apparently they’ve shipped plenty of times to Mumbai but have never had this issue before (what are the chances that it happened to us twice?!). As you’d expect, sitting in the storage area of a broken down bus in one of the hottest places in the world is not good for durian. The first time the durian arrived totally spoiled, but thankfully the second time it was still good (and both times the mangosteen was fine). But I don’t blame people for not wanting to risk it, or deal with the shipping, which includes having to arrange the pickup from the rather rude and unhelpful people at the bus service. (Thankfully we were refunded for the spoiled durians and the shipping.)

The durian we eventually got was really delicious though! I have no insight into what variety it was (they say it is their own farm’s variety), but it had a nice custardy texture and a sweet caramel-like taste. I sent a picture to Lindsay and she said the shape is kinda like Puangmanee (which tracks with the taste, though I’m not so experienced) but the thorns are quite large. I sent her ChatGPT’s visual analysis of it and she was like “Haha no, definitely not,” so if you’re looking for an AI-proof job maybe durian expert is a good choice. They said they have a few other homegrown varieties at the farm, I look forward to trying those as well. 

Anyway it was quite a treat to get great durian in India, and at a reasonable price. When we ordered, the durian was 450 inr per kg (as I mentioned, the price fluctuates throughout the season), which is similar to Thailand prices. I don’t remember the full cost of a single durian, but including shipping we paid around 1200 inr for a whole medium sized durian and a kilo of mangosteen (plus more for the last mile shipping within Mumbai). I’ll definitely order again if I’m around in the next durian season, though I’m going to hold off on hosting a durian party until there’s a more reliable shipping option.

So if you’re hardcore then I recommend ordering to Mumbai, or another city that’s within a 24 hour road distance of their farm. Yeah there are shipping complications and it isn’t cheap, but it’s good fun for the whole family and is cheaper than going out for a mediocre dinner, so why not? 

Plus, hardly anyone in India knows what durian is yet, so you can have all sorts of fun with it that you can’t get away with in other durian growing countries! You can take it on the metro! Bring it into hotel rooms! The world is full of possibilities! This is an amazing behavioral arbitrage opportunity. It’s too bad the cost is high and growing season is limited, otherwise I may have finally found a way to get revenge on people using their phones at the movies.

Hopefully this all sounds good and exciting to everyone, but perhaps some of you are thinking, “But I think I won’t like durian?” Actually, that seems to be the default belief of most people I meet outside of the primary durian growing and consuming regions of the world. I don’t know, maybe you won’t like it. But maybe you will? Probably around a billion people love it? It’s not that unusual! And it’s just a fruit, I don’t think fruits are so scary or weird. I’m not trying to push cockroach placentas or whatever on you. 

And yeah, I’ve met people who don’t like durian. I think the majority of them either had bad durian, or a bad attitude about it, or both! But to be fair I’ve also met Thai people who don’t like it, so it’s not like it’s universally loved in its primary markets. But I’ve also met people who absolutely can’t stand bananas or tomatoes or mushrooms or yogurt or plenty of other things that are totally normal and not very divisive. Some people just inexplicably don’t like random things. And plenty of people dislike things only to end up loving them once they have them in a different context.

So it seems worth a shot. My default reaction to pretty much any weird-sounding but popular-in-some-circles food item within my dietary parameters is “I bet I’ll like it, even if it takes me a few tries to adjust to it.” I’m usually right, and that seems like a good approach to life because it leads to me liking more things. I don’t know how replicable this attitude and result is. But I believe in you, dear sammendelsohn.com readers. You’ve made it this far. You are the chosen ones. You can do it.