Over the weekend , more than 500 students and members of staff had to be evacuated from a university subroutine library in Melbourne , Australia , because of a suspected gas leak . After a " comprehensive search " of the construction , the local fire brigade section concluded there was no gasoline leak . alternatively , the informant of the fuss was a much less sinister miscreant – a unmarried piece of rotting fruit .
The foul - smell durian fruit is native to Southeast Asia , where it is often eaten raw or added to local cuisine as a flavoring factor . It can also be used in traditional Asiatic medicament , either as an aphrodisiac or as a discourse for febrility . It is about the same size as a coconut and looks a bit like a curled up hedgehog . Underneath its spiky green and brown exterior , there is a sweet and creamy lily-livered flesh .
The " Billie Jean Moffitt King of fruits " is the marmite of the fruit world – you either love it or detest it . The aroma is so barbed that the Singapore Mass Transit hasbanned durianson their railway lines and , in a particularly vituperative review , the food writerRichard Sterlingdescribes the odor as " gum terpentine and onions , garnished with a gym windsock . It can be smelled from yards away . ” ( Mmm , overnice . Not . )
This unique fetor is the product of 50 individual distinct compounds , including four that had been totally unknown to science until a 2012 study analyzing the smell of durian fruit was published in theJournal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry . The researchers determine that no one chemical compound was creditworthy for its smell but rather combine to make the typical scent . take aside , some compounds were described as fruity while others were described as skunky , metal , rubbery , or sunburn . Some were key out as smelling like onion , others ail , cheese , or beloved .
Australian firefighter believe the especially biting smell of this finicky piece of moulder fruit spread through the RMIT subroutine library through the atmosphere conditioning organisation . An investigation into the incident take place because of the potentially dangerous chemical stored in the building but the library has since been re - open now that they have sex there is no risk to staff and students ' health . Though library faculty might desire to regard blackball durians from now on .
Its powerful , sulphuric stenchisn’t the only rare trait of the durian yield . Asian folklore state eat Durio zibethinus while drunk can kill you and there may be a lead of truth in this title . In 2009 , a subject found that eatingdurians can inhibit an enzymecalled aldehyde dehydrogenase ( ALDH ) , which is responsible for helping the liver break in down intoxicant .
If you want to know what it taste like , check out this brainy television below byCut(warning : there ’s swearing . Quite a lot ) .
[ H / T : Associated Press , Scientific American ]
