History of Durian in Indonesia

The story of the ancient durian ranging from ancient Javanese times. The original fruit of the archipelago was crowned as the king of fruits.

Since when humans started eating durians (durio zibethinus) or who first discovered the fruit of durian there is never a definite historical fact about it. But if the question asked about when the population in the archipelago consume durian, then the answer is always available.

At least the instructions are contained in some reliefs in Borobudur temple. Of the 2672 panels of the story, some of them display the durian fruit made as a king's offering, traded, as well as those who brought it with other fruit such as mangoes and mangosteen.

"From this relief we can know that durian has been consumed by the people of Nusantara since 1300 years ago," said Durian expert Mohamad Reza Tirtawinata in a discussion about durian in Serang, Banten three weeks ago. Reza's doctorate from the Bogor Institute of Agriculture, an important person behind the establishment of the Mekarsari fruit garden.

Based on the Kayumwungan inscription on 26 May 824, Borobudur Temple was built by King Samaratungga around the 8th century until the 9th century. In addition to durian, other fruits are also found in the relief of Borobudur, among others, mango, banana, breadfruit and mangosteen.

Notes on other past durians are contained in the travel reports of European explorers of the fifteenth century. In the book Java Essay: The History and Culture of Southern Country by Masatoshi Iguchi narrates the VOC expedition in Batavia to Bogor in 1687. In the expedition led by Pieter Scipio van Ostende it was known to have many durian trees growing around Bogor.

"The road from Parung Angsana to Cipaku is very wide and covered with rocks with durian trees growing on both sides," Pieter said as quoted by Masatoshi. Angsana Parung is now named Tanah Baru in the northern region of Bogor.

However, from several reports made by European explorers it is often still there is confusion between the durian with soursop (Annona muricata). Soursop is also commonly referred to as "Dutch jackfruit" or "Dutch durian".

It was Georg Eberhard Rumphius, a German-born botanist working for the VOC, who first described the durian in detail in his research report. The report was later published in 1741 under the title Herbarium Amboinense.

In his research in Ambon, Maluku, Rumphius witnessed local residents using durian scents to capture weasels. That was the beginning he saw the durian fruit and recorded the name of the durian genus as "durio" in his report. Since then the name of durian began to enter into the treasures of botany and invited the attention of other European botanists.

Then 33 years after the publication of Herbarium Amboinense by Rumphius, Carl Linnaeus botanist from Sweden published the book Systema Vegetabilium which includes the name of durian fruit with the Latin name durio zibethinus. He attached the name of the zibethinus behind the genus name "durio" in memory of the story of Rumphius's findings in Ambon.

Zibethinus is taken from the civet zibetto in Latin. Rumphius's story of the Ambonese who use the durian scent to trap the weasel inspired Linnaeus to immortalize it in the Latin name durian.

British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace who conducted research on the archipelago of Nusantara, among others, in Ternate, from 1848 to 1854 also attracted to durian. The naturalist who was named the founder of Charles Darwin's evolutionary theory once wrote a letter to his fellow botanist Sir William Jackson Hooker expressed his admiration for durian.

"The smell of ripe fruit is not necessarily pleasant, though not so stinging as the new fruit falls from the tree. The only way to eat perfectly mature durians is when the fruit falls. It may not be true to say that durian is the best fruit of all fruits available, especially because it is not watery refreshingly refreshing like oranges, grapes, mangoes and mangosteen. But as a food, durian delights are unmatched. 

If I had to make two things that represent perfection, then I would crown Durian and Orange as the king and queen of fruits, "Wallace wrote.And the famous fruits typical of Southeast Asia that grows in Indonesia as the king of fruits.

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