WAILUA — The durian is such an exotic fruit, it drew comments from almost all of the attendees to the 20th Hawai‘i International Tropical Fruit Conference, Friday. “It’s still packed in the box, outside,” said Laurie Ho, extending a box
WAILUA — The durian is such an exotic fruit, it drew comments from almost all of the attendees to the 20th Hawai‘i International Tropical Fruit Conference, Friday.
“It’s still packed in the box, outside,” said Laurie Ho, extending a box knife. “You can open it.”
Despite being carefully packed in the box, the smell of the exotic fruit floated around the Ali‘i Room of the Aston Aloha Beach Resort where the conference’s main stage was located.
“I love the smell of durian,” said Ken Love, executive director of the Hawai‘i Tropical Fruit Growers, the conference host. “In Thailand, people get hurt when these things fall off the tree.”
But that was not the sentiment of everyone, as one of the registrars said the fruit smelled like garbage.
Durian is an exotic fruit relished mostly in Southeast Asia where it is known as the king of the fruits and is infamous for its contrasting attributes, states the Buzzle.com website.
It exhibits a stench resembling the stink of crushed garlic mixed with Mediterranean cheese and army socks. However, the odor masks a delicious, creamy textured fruit that pacifies the palate, the website states.
Believed to have originated in Borneo and Sumatra, today it grows is Thailand, southern Philippines, New Guinea, India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and other Asian countries, with Thailand having the distinction of exporting more durian than any other country.
Love said the durian is just one of the many exotic fruits on display for convention-goers to get a closer look.
“This is just the second-largest collection of exotic fruits set up in the state,” Love said. “And most of them were grown here on Kaua‘i.”
The tropical fruit conference ran Friday to Sunday with the majority of discussions and workshops being held Saturday and led by distinguished speakers and panelists.
Dr. Noris Ledesma of the Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden in Florida opened with “For the Love of Mangos,” and by the conference’s end was scheduled to lead a panel discussion on horticulture of common and exotic fruits, and a presentation of “Growing and marketing specialty crops — Florida model.”
Dr. Diane Ragone, director of the Breadfruit Institute at the South Shore’s National Tropical Botanical Garden hosted “Breadfruit and its use and potential.”
Chef Peter Merriman, scheduled to be the guest chef for the Wednesday live-chef demonstration at the Kukui‘ula Village, was joined by Steve Nakata, chef instructor at Kaua‘i Community College, along with growers Ned Whitlock and John Wooten, in a farmer-chef panel discussion.
Also on the agenda were updates from the University of Hawai‘i College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources and the Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center, including “What’s hampering honeybees?” led by Dr. Mark Wright.
Love said more than 100 people from Kaua‘i, the state and parts of the Mainland signed up for the conference that ended Sunday with the group touring the NTBG facility and Kaua‘i Nursery & Landscaping near Puhi.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com.
