It is that time of the year again. Without a doubt, the Mao Shan Wang (MSW) is currently the most popular durian, loved by many for its thick, golden creamy yellow bitter-sweet flesh. But do you know that in 2006, MSW was selling for only SGD $1 per kg in Malaysia
The MSW (毛山王) is also called Musang King (Civet Cat King) & Raja Kunyit (King of Turmeric). In 1993, Raja Kunyit was registered with the Malaysian Dept of Agriculture and was assigned code no D197. The owner of this clone was Mr Wee Chong Beng from Tanah Merah, Kelantan. The name Musang King was derived from the region of Gua Musang where the clone was first planted and became very popular with farmers there.
In the 1980′s a man named Tan Lai Fook (Fook Gor Farm) stumbled upon a very old durian tree in Gua Musang and brought a branch back to Raub and started cultivating it. Today, the MSW from Raub and Bentong in Pahang are regarded as the best in Malaysia
Branded durians started appearing in the 90s, with the most popular one being the D24 Sultan. Later on, it was usurped by the MSW. During the 2006 durian season, many durian trees matured and the fruits fell at about the same time leading to an oversupply of durians. Back then there were no freezing facilities and the glut of supply plus the short shelf life of 1-2 days for durians led to durian prices dropping to an unbelievable SGD $1 per kg.
With the introduction of nitrogen blast freezing, excess durians that are unsold can be blast frozen to extend its shelf life. These blast frozen durians can then be stockpiled and allocated for the export market. In this way, prices of durians can remain stable throughout the season. This became good news for farmers and traders but bad news for consumers.
MSW fame sky-rocketed in 2010 due to a man buying 88 MSW durians from a durian stall in Singapore. This man was the late Stanley Ho aka Godfather of Gambling. The prominent Hong Kong billionaire tycoon owns 19 casinos in Macau including the Grand Lisboa.
On 23rd June 2010, Stanley Ho was invited to attend the grand opening of Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. He had 5 close friends who took an earlier flight to Singapore and they went looking for durians. They tried MSW and were absolutely captivated by the aroma and taste. So they introduced the MSW to Stanley Ho.
The next morning, Stanley dispatched his subordinates to scout for the best MSW in Singapore and they found 818 Durian Stall. They bought up all the stall had, which was 88 high quality MSW durian for approximately SGD $2071. The durians were packed into 6 boxes. A private jet was chartered to fly the durians straight into Hong Kong.
Once the durians arrived in Hong Kong, Stanley had his men delivered 10 MSW to Li Ka Shing, another famous Hong Kong billionaire and philanthropist. When this information leaked, all major tabloid newspapers and magazines published the story.
Durian, which used to be little known outside of Southeast Asia, suddenly gained instant fame. Now everybody wants to try Mao Shan Wang - a fruit so unique, so good that Stanley Ho spared no expense getting them back to Hong Kong fresh! A fruit so delicious that he find it worthy as a gift to present to a fellow billionaire friend.
Following the widespread press coverage about MSW, price skyrocketed from around S$8 - S$12 per kg to around S$18 /kg. Almost every Chinese and Hong Kong tourist wanted to try out this fruit. With the sudden spike in demand, and when supply cannot catch up, the price of MSW just sky-rocketed. This legacy carried on with RWS & MBS organising mega durian buffets to entertain their guests every year. (Except in 2020 & 2021)
In 2017, due to bad weather, the supply of durians fell short. However, due to prior contractual commitment to supply MBS several tonnes of MSW, the traders have no choice but to outbid other buyers by a wide margin to secure them. This pushed up MSW price to a record SGD $38 per kg in Singapore. The price was so ridiculous, that it attracted yet another wave of press coverage. That further boosted MSW’s publicity, gaining it yet another wave of global attention.
More recently, durians sellers have started to differentiate between the different grades of Mao Shan Wang. As result, you start seeing names like “King of Kings” or “Black Gold”. These are actually the cream of the MSW crop that usually come from old trees.
I would like to end the story with a joke that had been making its rounds. Do you know that there is a daily Covid19 detection kit called MSW19.
Everyday, you open up the MSW19 and smell it. If you can smell it, then you are probably not infected. Then you eat it, if you can taste it, then you are definitely not affected.
So the next time you bite into a MSW, you will see it with a totally new light ...
