Davao Durian

Davao grows more durian than anywhere else in the country and treats it as a civic emblem, to the point of putting it on monuments. The stalls near Magsaysay Park are the place people are sent: rows of spiked green fruit stacked on tables, a vendor to cut one open with a short blade and hand over the segments, and plastic stools to eat them on. Local varieties include Puyat, the most common, and the smaller, sweeter, more expensive Arancillo and Duyaya. What is not eaten fresh is turned into candy, jam, pastilles, ice cream and pastries. The harvest peaks in the second half of the year, alongside the city's Kadayawan festival in August.

What you actually see

• The stall rows - spiked fruit stacked on tables, cut open to order with a short blade.
• The variety differences - Puyat, Arancillo and others, sold at very different prices per kilo.
• The processed products - candy, jam, pastilles and ice cream in every pasalubong shop.
• The other Davao fruit - mangosteen, marang, lanzones and pomelo in season on the same stalls.

When to go

Roughly August to October is the main harvest, when supply is heaviest and prices lowest; the Kadayawan harvest festival in August coincides. Some fruit is available outside the season at a premium. Evening is when the stalls are busiest and most social, with families eating on the stools until late.

Honest expectations

The smell is the obvious issue and it is not exaggerated: hotels, malls, taxis and airlines ban it, and it clings to hands and clothes for hours. Vendors will cut a fruit that turns out underripe or fibrous, and there is no refund, so buy where you can see the flesh first. Prices per kilo are quoted higher to visitors. Eating a whole one alone is a mistake.

Nearby

Mount Apo rises south of the city; Samal island is a short ferry from the Davao waterfront.