South Cotabato's Durian

Say Durian. Say Davao. It’s like they are one and yes, true. But having been into the different parts of my beloved country Philippines, almost all farmers now from the north to the south are growing trees of durian! I’ve learned to eat durian at the age of six and it became my staple when I got pregnant to my third child (actually my second since the eldest are twins). Blessed me, we were residing in the heart of Davao City that time and to indulge whenever craving comes were just steps away. Getting the information from the internet and from the store itself where my husband bought me ‘my fruit’ that a seed of flesh coated durian (let’s expound to a cob variety) is equivalent to two glasses of milk made me dunk in for more and more of it from frozen plastic containers and even from the harshy-thorny thistle outer cover.

My father in Bukidnon grows durian trees in his farm; as well as with my father in-law in Apayao. Which all of those trees bore fruits already and were enjoyed by grandchildren and those whom they don’t even know. He he he. Here in South Cotabato, the land is rich and luscious and durian is still abundant in heaps. Now I know why they call durian as the king of all fruits. Even if these trees are cultivated and are grown in different places, the taste of the fruits’ flesh sing out just one name – I AM A DURIAN.