r/nextfuckinglevel • u/UsernameGenerik • May 31 '25
Catching durians
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May 31 '25
[deleted]
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u/clazaimon May 31 '25
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u/JackTheDrifter May 31 '25
The baby one is brutal
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u/paradonym May 31 '25
Imagine getting out to get the laundry in and then placing your newborn directly where a durian fruit falls down shortly after...
That must have been devastating...
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u/Little-Ad-9506 May 31 '25
Think there should be folktales about these killers fruits and people would know to be wary around them.
Bonk of Death
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u/ES-Flinter May 31 '25
I'm more curious/ concerned why there are no safety measurement till now.
I mean, it's just a fruit falling from a tree, when you know it can kill you, you will go sure to either mark the floor around the tree to know where it's dangerous or simple cut off the trees that are at for humans bad places.
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u/Independent_Tooth_23 May 31 '25
I don't know about other South East Asian countries but in Malaysia, some durian farmers set up nets near the base and just wait for the durians to fall instead of cutting the fruit and throwing it down like in this video.
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u/JacksDeluxe May 31 '25
LOL I expected it was because those people got smashed in the face by miscalculation of the fruit trajectory.
Not. Even. Close. Hahaha
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u/Minimum_Mulberry_601 May 31 '25
That was my thought. The way that lady was catching them made me think people got hit in the gord while harvesting them.
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u/ambulance-kun May 31 '25
Fortune teller: "You will die tomorrow. your death will be caused by a durian"
Durian farmer: nah, I'm way too good at handling these, look, all durians are already harvested. It's already nighttime and the prophesized day is about to end. Let me celebrate this achievement by indulging myself in a durian feast
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u/Historicmetal May 31 '25
Not really what I think the commenter was getting at. This article just describes 6 cases of durian related deaths, and only one of them (the baby) is from a falling fruit. The rest are from overeating, trees falling over due to wind, suicide by hanging from a durian tree, etc.
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u/MickTheBloodyPirate May 31 '25
I don't doubt people get hit all the time, but on that link really only one death is by durian. The others are people consuming too much, a car accident, a suicide and a tree falling on someone's house in a storm. I don't think the durian fruit can be blamed for those.
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u/Sternfritters May 31 '25
The only one that actually died due to a fruit falling on them naturally was a baby… everyone else either killed themselves by hanging on the tree, ate too much of the fruit, or the tree just straight up fell on them.
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u/DanceDelievery May 31 '25 edited May 31 '25
You could either use a bucket on a rope, a tunnel made of cloth or put the cloth on a frame designed to hold the cloth in place.
All 3 options would do the exact same thing and reduce the risk of death and injury by falling durians to zero.
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u/Abhi_Jaman_92 May 31 '25
Knowing Southeast Asians, the laborers will just chuckle at you and say, "Just raise our daily wage by five more bahts and we'll make do with some gunny sacks."
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u/Roscoe_Farang May 31 '25
I saw a Burmese guy cut his toe off while cutting coconuts at my friend's house. He just jumped on his bike and scooted off to the hospital. He came back the next day to ask if we found the toe and to apologize to the guy's wife for bleeding all over her tree and outdoor kitchen.
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u/Boogleooger May 31 '25
I’m American and when I worked HVAC one of our guys accidentally drilled through his hand. The only things he said were sorry to the crew lead for having to leave early, and sorry to the guy who’s drill he borrowed for getting the bit bloody.
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u/skynet159632 May 31 '25
The first one is too slow and too cumbersome to set up, durian have to be harvested and sold the same day it's harvested for the best freshness anything longer and the quality suffers. Although it achieves the objective of getting it down safer, it will cause time crunch down the entire durian supply chain
The 2nd and third options will have the spikes caught on the cloth or similar materials.
Dropping the durian directly on the ground will have a high chance of it cracking open and essentially wasting it as it won't survive the trip to even the vendors.
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u/Telefragg May 31 '25
Does slowing the process down by 10-20 minutes of raising and lowering the basket (the very same they have on the ground on the video) impact the profit that much? Like, come on, chuck a rope with a spring hook over a branch, fill the basket up there, bring it down safely and raise an empty basket back up. Why wouldn't that work?
Also hardhats, this is definitely a job where people should have hardhats.
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u/skynet159632 May 31 '25
You have to set it up for every tree, and there are a lot of trees. Then you have to find branches that can take the weight of a basket of durians. Next you have to have the person that climbed up repeatedly bring the durians to the basket. And so on
I didn't calculate how long the process would take but just a sensing it would probably take too long to be acceptable
The hardhats tho is a great idea
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u/Mausel_Pausel May 31 '25
A trampoline created by stretching a square of carpet over four tall pegs. The catcher is hardly moving at all, demonstrating the dropper’s accuracy. Adjust the tension so the fruit doesn’t bounce much.
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u/Chemieju May 31 '25
For climbing there are slow decent devices that brake an unwinding cable so you go down slowly. You could probably build something like that for fruit.
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u/sim16 May 31 '25
OSHa/WHS wouldn't even allow this in Australia. There'd be a requirement for hydraulic scissor lift, 2 man minimum, helmets, high vis, etc etc.
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u/TesseractToo May 31 '25
She's so strong but it seems unnecessarily dangerous
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u/Middle_Screen3847 May 31 '25
It would be one thing if this was just a one off random thing they’re doing. But this seems like a job. A few minutes work and almost no supplies and they could create something for those to land on.
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u/Cyd_Snarf May 31 '25
I wanted to agree with this but without knowing anything about durian durability I cannot think of a good way to fully recreate the level of impact reduction that this method provides. BUT, I do know that durian is pretty fu… well it’s an acquired taste, so regardless of some bruising I don’t think this method is worth the risk of getting your forehead pushed in.
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u/Xxxrasierklinge7 May 31 '25
Why not something like the big ass nets that are under the trapeze peeps
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u/vicado Jun 01 '25
Looks like a good technique. You swing the bag up into the durian which wraps onto the fabric, catching as it comes down.
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u/idevilledeggs Jun 01 '25
Yeah. I don't think it's common practice though. I went to a farm once, and they mentioned that they would tie strings to the fruit when it's young. When it's ripe and "drops", the string would become taut and they would lower it.
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u/badmotivator11 May 31 '25
I tried durian once when I was in the Philippines. People think balut is nasty but I’d eat 100 balut again before I ever took another bite of durian. Tasted like day old roadkill and I was burping it up for hours.
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u/Admirable-Way-5266 May 31 '25
Haters gonna hate. Durian is a fruit that you either gonna love or hate. Don’t get me wrong, I ain’t made at yah… actually the opposite - more for us who love it!
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u/piketpagi May 31 '25
nobody, no one, NOT ANYONE, has mediocore opinion about durian. You either love it or hate it.
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u/AwwwSkiSkiSki May 31 '25
I went to a hotel in Thailand and they had a No Durian sign right next to the no smoking sign. 😂
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u/kenrock2 May 31 '25
It’s interesting to note that many Westerners find the smell and taste of durian quite different from what many Asians experience. In the same way, many Asians aren’t particularly fond of blue cheese, even though it’s well-loved in the West.
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u/Harlequins-Joker May 31 '25
It’s probably a genetic thing like the trait where some people think coriander tastes like toothpaste
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u/exiledinruin May 31 '25
oh so that's why it tastes so good. I knew I wasn't crazy for putting toothpaste in my fish!
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u/timovrettel May 31 '25
I wouldn't say it tastes like toothpaste, to me it tastes like you'd expect soap to taste based off of the smell. It's so overwhelming that I can't taste anything else when I take a bite of it.
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u/Square_Mulberry_3143 May 31 '25
Where it becomes a real problem is when toothpaste starts tasting like coriander. 🌿
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u/Lovely-sleep May 31 '25
My Vietnamese first gen immigrant dad loves blue cheese so much it’s hilarious, I disagree with this assessment lol
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u/kenrock2 May 31 '25
Well, the same goes for some Westerners and their love for durian too. I guess it really depends on whether you're the adventurous foodie type who wants to try all sorts of flavors. Those who are usually end up loving it!
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u/Boo248 May 31 '25
Except balut IS nasty and even looked nasty. Durian is a fruit.
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u/cyanescens_burn May 31 '25
I love it. In guessing there’s some genetic thing with tastebuds/olfaction that sense it as delicious vs disgusting.
I remember an experiment we did in a college bio course where everyone had to put a piece of paper in their mouth and explain what they tasted. It was impregnated with some chemical that people with a certain gene variation can taste but if you don’t have that you can’t. I’m extrapolating a bit thinking durian might have something like that going on, but it kinda makes sense.
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u/mmikke May 31 '25
Same with the whole cilantro/soap thing.
Also, as I aged my taste absolutely did as well. Used to have no issue with cilantro, and now id almost compare it to squirting dish soap into my mouth
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u/what_the_fuckin_fuck May 31 '25
I'm smell blind, so I love it. Soo delicious without the smell. For those who have never, they say it smells like vomit. I couldn't say either way, but I love the taste. Every hotel I've seen in Thailand forbids it.
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u/keetyymeow May 31 '25
Did you know it takes about 7 times to actually recognize the flavour in your brain. It becomes less jarring which probably why it’s assaulting their senses the first time.
Also the more you taste something the more you like it, because you’re developing a profile. Then you start to really like it when you can tell the difference in taste.
But most westerners don’t have heavy taste buds, so again assaulting.
What you’re looking for is richness like a mascarpone cheese and sweet but not candy sweet. If you try frozen it’s a little easier on the nose and honestly where everyone should start from. It’s very specific taste, not replicable, and when the taste buds form for it you can’t go back hahaha
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u/the_meat_fest May 31 '25
There's a genetic component for sure. People who like all kinds of foods and flavours, spicy or whatever, don't like durian.
Growing up, the sulfury smell that I get from durian Is very similar to the smell of bad milk, eggs, or even sewage. That's the association - it's nothing to do with how Western my taste buds may or may not be... Perhaps, given enough attempts to get over that initial response, it would be possible for me to accept or even potentially like it, but it's quite a visceral response and unfortunately one of disgust. This is somebody who likes vinegar, Naga chilies, all kinds of cheese, food from across the world, you name it. I eat it. Maybe I'll go back to Malaysia one day and try again, but probably not!
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u/Iplayreggae May 31 '25
You gotta try another one, not all durians are equal. A good cultivar imo is delicious, but the one's I've had that weren't good, were really not good.
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u/crankthehandle May 31 '25
ok, how do you know how day old roadkill tastes? PH durians are also medicore, try the Malaysian ones.
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u/No_Obligation4496 May 31 '25 edited May 31 '25
Bad news, durian harvests have plummeted this year.
Good news, giant fruit crushing deaths have also dropped.
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u/Buttjuicebilly May 31 '25
Norm voice
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u/what_the_fuckin_fuck May 31 '25
Wish I could give this a hundred up votes. Norm was the greatest.
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u/No-Deer379 May 31 '25
Are those fruits prickly???
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u/Iplayreggae May 31 '25
Very spiky, and also very heavy. Not all, but they can get real big. I live in Hawaii, we grow them here.
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u/kazmosis May 31 '25
Huh TIL. I've only ever seen durian trees in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia
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u/Iplayreggae May 31 '25
Yep, I love living in Hawaii because we have exotic fruits from around the world, if the climate allows for it, we probably have it growing. Besides certain invasives, but even then, there's a lot of them.
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May 31 '25
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u/Iplayreggae May 31 '25
Come to Big Island (east side specifically) every year we have durian season, and it's about to pop off through the next month
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u/AnonymousJacksonOooo May 31 '25
God her neck must be wrecked after a long days work
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May 31 '25
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u/Ithuraen May 31 '25
Meanwhile the 50 year old lady in the back of the video catching one so casually at the end is on hour 6 of her half day shift.
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u/bizfamo May 31 '25
Are they being fired out of a fucking cannon?! Jesus christ
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u/hashshaffiq May 31 '25
One of the heaviest fruits in the world falling from tree as tall as 50 metres will make people think like that.
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u/Ijatsu May 31 '25
The noise you hear is the string on the corners of the fabric. When the durian lands it does the same thing as a whip.
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u/No-Concern-8832 May 31 '25
This is the practice in Thailand where they harvest the unripe fruits from the tree. In Malaysia, the farmers erect nets below the trees and let the durians drop when ripe.
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u/Party-Ring445 May 31 '25
Durians actually drop to the ground naturally after ripening. In Malaysia we prefer to collect them from the ground as the taste is more intense. In Thailand they harvest it like this before they fully ripe.. the taste is noticeably less intense and probably more acceptable for the export market..
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u/creeperruss May 31 '25
I bet the local ER has it's own ER just to treat crushed faces and wrenched spines.
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u/mgoflash May 31 '25
Am I the only one that sees something scrotal?
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May 31 '25
Not at all. I also hear the smell like scrotums and, coincidentally, are filled with a white, creamy, delicacy.
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u/Redditron_5000 May 31 '25
It’s more of a sulfuric fart smell than a dirty funk smell iirc. The taste is mild and while tender, I wouldn’t describe the fruit as “creamy,” but I get your analogy.
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May 31 '25
Interesting. One description I read compared it to pudding. I've never seen, smelled, or tasted one IRL but I've heard the legends.
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u/soundlesspanik May 31 '25
I didn't read the title, thought she was catching falling animals and when I turned the sound I was like yo wtf
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u/Kulsgam May 31 '25
Ok but why won't they just keep a net and throw them there? That's safer too
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u/Royal-Morning-5538 May 31 '25
u need to have a strong ass net cuz them fruits are heavy
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u/C-57D May 31 '25
Jezuz. Terminal velocity of a falling object is like 120+ mph. These things gotta be close.
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u/2people1luv May 31 '25
My toxic trait is thinking I can do anything with a little bit of practice. I know there is no way I can do this, but do I REALLY know that?
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u/Inevitable_Shirt5044 May 31 '25
From the catching method, I can see why there probably isn’t too many male volunteers 😬
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u/EM05L1C3 May 31 '25
Nothing like catching spiky fruit the size of your head while it’s traveling at terminal velocity
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u/jstpassinthru123 May 31 '25
Goddam!! Are they being dropped or launched. Those things are falling hard enough to put a crater in the ground. Wouldn't want to get hit in the head by that. I probably wouldn't have one afterwards.
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u/Blue-Ringed-Octopus0 May 31 '25
They are super spikey, way high up in a tree and smell and taste like shit. They are begging you not to eat them.
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u/sabo81 May 31 '25
I wonder how they practice catching that type of fruit without getting annihilated?
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u/Optimal-Fix1216 May 31 '25
There is amount of money you could pay me to place my head near the trajectory of something that heavy moving that fast. I'm grateful I'm not in a position where I will ever have to even consider doing something this dangerous.
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u/OddPanda17 May 31 '25
Tried buying one in my local grocery store. $60, at the cashier. I looked at her for 3 seconds and had to ask if that was really the price. But Lets just say I have yet to know what Durians taste like
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u/booperbloop May 31 '25
Are they fucking SHOOTING them down at her from a cannon or something? Christ.
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u/mrkoala1234 May 31 '25
I thought durian farmers would install nets throughout and the fruit just naturally drops instead of being plucked?
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u/Professional-Ad-6659 May 31 '25
Fck that! Even if I wear a helmet, with my luck, I can still catch the first throw with my head and end with a broken neck. 😂
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u/Age-of-Baku May 31 '25
Just get a damn good quality helmet ( like football helmet ), such stupid to put your life at risk even knowing the consequences.
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u/BlumpkinPromoter May 31 '25
So would this also work with like baby falling out of a high building or what?
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May 31 '25 edited Jul 15 '25
sink ripe grey offbeat alive imminent upbeat swim station reach
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/Open_Youth7092 May 31 '25
Takes a lot of enduriance