Hi Lovefood,

without knowing where you are located..Coles and Woolworths now seem to stock durians (well they have had them at all the ones i've been to recently in NSW) and i guess if there is one near you that doesn't stock them you could probably make a special request. Having never tasted a durian in it's native land i could only hazard a guess that the ones you get in the supermarkets here are only a shadow of what they are like fresh and local.

peace.

all the durians coming into australia are frozen. most from thailand. and some little ones from malaysia. they are no longer on my 'i eat this' list..after talking with customs and some importers and visiting farms in thailand..frozen durian is associated with ill health symptoms with a lot of crew ive talked to. the chemicals ive seen farmers use in thailand to produce consistent sized fruits..chemicals banned in australia..

i visited the largest horticultural centre in the world..in chantaburi thailand. talked with some big wigs..i said 'people have health problem in australia from poison.' they said' in thailand, same.' and didnt want to hear about organic methods..but lots of farmers are organic in thailand..old ways of grow'n durian..

for me im stick'n with the fresh stuff in south east asia. i now know durian farmers. and get invited to the durian eating comps..its a cult following for sure..lol!
ditch the import schwag and create the vacum for the real deal spikies!

in october i was on several durian farms north of cairns. they will be fruiting in feb. you can get oz durian up there and in darwin. there is about 12000 durian trees in oz according to DPI stats. but that was before cyclone larry..

if your at 'bartle friere' 30km north of innisfail in feb, ask for 'alan zapala'. he is the durian guru in oz..

my goal this year is to get on national thai tv again..but this time with the message of organic, raw and vegan thrown in..

your so right..
im learning more and more thai..

...But even the still frozen durian that is thawing out  in the unrefrigerated display area might have been repeatedly thawing out for several days or weeks and so repeatedly refrozen at night when the store is closed.And during this time it will have lost flavour and might even be ready for the circular file.
As mentioned before ,some shops only sell Durian for part of the year when it might be cheaper for them to buy and it can then be retailed for $2- 4 then.
Other stores sell it all year in Australia for about $3kg eg some asian stores.
So...