Freeze-Dried Durian, Anyone?

If you've ever eaten the exotic fruit called durian, you'll know it's got some mighty strong cons, namely that the sweet taste is cancelled out for many people by the unpleasant fragrance. Fresh durian is said to be worlds better than the defrosted stuff that's shipped frozen, but most people can't find or afford it.

So I was delighted to come across the following posting by a Seattle woman named Nora to the yahoo e-group called RawSchool:

Hi everyone,I discovered something new today. While I was waiting for a fresh case of durian to be brought out from the freezer at a store in the International District of Seattle, I noticed something on the shelf called "freeze dried durian". I noted that it said on the package it was "all natural" with no additives or preservatives, so I decided to buy a small package. Wow, what a taste treat. It reminded me so much of candy (it's like a malted milk ball without the chocolate coating) that I basically just ate it and waited for the pain! But it was surprisingly easy to digest, or at least there were no negative effects as of about 2 hours after I ate it, when I ate some frozen durian. Frozen durian always gives me a bit of a hangover the next day, so if I feel badly tomorrow it will be hard to tell if it was the frozen or dried durian.I googled 'freeze drying' because I was curious about it and found the description below. According to this info, there is less cellular damage than what happens during dehydration. Very interesting! I probably won't make this a staple or even eat it frequently but I think it would be a fabulous way for someone to experience durian for the first time because the taste is very similar to fresh durian (even more similar than frozen) and there is no smell, no mess, and no wondering how to pick one out or defrost it, etc. Plus I'm sure it can be ordered on line by people in rural areas who don't have access to durian in any other form. In fact, I found this link, although the prices look quite a bit higher than I paid today ($3.45 for a 30g pkg, which I paid $2.09 for, same label).