Regarding the Durian fruit:

Pictures of the opening of the fruit are forthcoming.

Update: You can find the pictures here.

The taste: Sweet, but with an odd astringent/alcohol taste to it – my lips tingled as they were a bit chapped. It’s hard to describe – there are so many different, opposing tastes mixed in there that it defies description, although it was very similar to a banana in many ways – but also very much unlike a banana. The pulp was soft and almost liquid, with an edible “skin” that had a slightly different taste than the inside pulp. Bruce didn’t like the smell at all, but the rest of us didn’t think that it smelled nearly as strongly as it had been described.

The taste lingered – boy, did it linger – but the aftertaste wasn’t expecially off-putting. It certainly was unique, though.

I can see this as a candy flavor, and Pam mentioned that she had come across someone saying that they had made it into a shake.

I don’t think I’ll be buying another one – at $5.00 or more a pound, one Durian can easily cost you $25.00 – but I’m glad we tried it. Now I want to try a Mangosteen!