MAO SHAN WANG (MSW) D197
Registered Number in the Malaysia Agriculture Department: D197
Date Registered: 9 Dec 1993
Origin (Owner/Place): Wee Chong Beng, Tanah Merah, Kelantan
Botanical Name: Durio Zibethinus Linn
Local Name: Raja Kunyit, Musang King, Mao Shan Wang or Cat Mountain King
Husk Characteristics: Small pyramids with flat angular sides, thorns converge at the base of the stem forming a bald brownish ring, mostly oval shaped like an egg or pear (sometimes it will be deformed), brownish 5-arm "starfish" at the base of the husk (thorns do not gather or converge here).
Flesh Characteristics: Thick bright royal yellow flesh, occasionally the flesh has dark undertones colour - almost like bruising (Blackgold). The fragrance is sweet though not overly pungent. The flesh is creamy, and it tastes sweet with slight bitter notes, the darker undertone colour flesh indicates a more intense taste.
Common Scams, Myths and Misinformation
1. Selling a MSW as Blackgold
Blackgold has a more intense taste which is highly sought after by MSW lovers. Because of this, many durian sellers have turn to labelling their MSW as Blackgold (黑金).
In reality, Blackgold is actually just a condition applied to a MSW that happens to, occasionally, under the right conditions, produce Blackgold flesh in the MSW. Farmers, no matter how skilled they are, are unable to exactly control the production of these MSW to produce Blackgold. Furthermore, these farmers and even suppliers are unable to even tell if a MSW has Blackgold flesh from the exterior husk! So, the next time you hear a durian seller say they can tell from the husk if it is Blackgold - RUN!
Also, another common unethical tactic used by durian seller is selling Blackgold durian boxes (flesh only) as an individual listing. As mentioned above, even farmers and suppliers are unable to tell if a MSW has Blackgold flesh from just the exterior husk.
An example, if you are a durian seller and you have an individual listing selling Blackgold durian boxes, how many MSW durians do you need to open in order to fulfil all of your customer's order? The answer, "infinity". Why so? It could be all ten baskets you bring in, not a single one of them has Blackgold flesh. So is the Blackgold listing really ALL Blackgold? Or is it really just a marketing gimmick to lure you into buying? The answer is obviously the latter.
An example of a Blackgold MSW. This was ONE piece out of 100 over MSW durians we opened.
2. Selling other cultivars as MSW
During the low season, due to the high demand and low supply of MSW, unethical durian sellers turn to replacing MSW with other cultivars, even going as far as importing durians from Thailand to replace MSW. Due to their low cost, the profit margins are significantly higher and unethical seller are not going to leave that opportunity lying around. Some of the common cultivars to replace MSW are, Chanee (Thai Durian), DlOl (D168) and D88.
4. Selling Wang Zhong Wang as a more "Premium" MSW
Wang Zhong Wang is not any type of cultivar. Period. It is actually a title given to the winning cultivar of a major durian competition in Malaysia that is held yearly. Every year a durian is crowned the Wang Zhong Wang (王中王). Unethical durian sellers will usually mark up their MSW durians using this title or even combine tactics with point 2 (selling other cultivars as MSW) to earn the maximum profit margin from unsuspecting customers.
Take a look at this video, Min 3:49
In conclusion,
Part of why this is happening in the durian industry is because of (1) how durian literacy in Singapore is very low to non-existent (2) that losing $100+ dollars to a durian scam is not a significant sum for any authorities to act because of how little financial impact it has to an individual.
This is where Durian Lims steps in. Our mission is to foster an environment where consumers are protected and served only the freshest, authentic and highest quality durians, every single time.
We believe that slowly but surely, we can transform the industry's negative perception and establish ourselves as the leading standard for durians in the industry.
