The Durian is the world's stinkiest fruit.

Is it an alien, a sea urchin, or a fruit? Well it’s not an alien, and since it grows on trees it’s not a sea urchin. But can it be a fruit? Yes!

A durian is a fruit, but it doesn’t look anything like the kind of fruit most of us are used to. It’s nothing like a yummy and sweet smelling apple, orange, or grape; a durian doesn’t look like a fruit, and it most definitely doesn’t smell like one. In fact, durians smell so bad it’s hard to imagine why anyone ever thought to eat it. 

The durian is a spiky fruit from Southeast Asia (between China and Australia). It’s the size of a football, and weighs 2-7 pounds.

It can be oblong or round, and is greenish-brown. It rots quickly and it’s expensive. The durian grows at trees that can be 160 feet tall (think of the width of a football field), and that is pollinated by bats. The tree is so tall, nobody bothers to pick the fruit and people just wait for it to drop. Imagine a 7-pound spiky fruit plummeting to the ground! Ouch… Locals stay away, knowing that people can die from its lethal strike. 

World’s stinkiest fruit. Yuck!

The durians most significant characteristic: It smells like bad onions, rotten sewage, or your little brother’s diaper, so don’t be surprised when traveling, if you see signs saying “No Durian”. The fruit is actually banned in some hotels, restaurants, and public transportation, and has earned the reputation of being the world’s stinkiest fruit.