Have you ever eaten a durian? If you have, or if you have met one and hurried on by, you might be conjuring up the huge, spiky fruit’s famous smell—or perfume—right now. I can only say, hand on heart, that durian ice cream is one of the best I have ever eaten or made (the other is pawpaw, Asimina triloba). One of the perks of living in a culturally rich megalopolis like New York City is that you have access to the world’s appetites and to the foods that feed them. Durians are often sold frozen at Asian supermarkets, either whole or packaged in naked segments. They are frozen in order to preserve the perishable fruit and to curb its notorious-slash-famous odor—or scent.

Ready for an adventure? You’ll need this delectable durian ice cream recipe.

Photography by Marie Viljoen.

Imported durian usually comes from Malaysia, Vietnam, or Thailand (the tree is native to Indonesia, Borneo, and Malaysia). You don’t need a supermarket to enjoy it, since it can bought online and shipped right to your door. If you live in Hawai’i, you can grow your own.

Travelers and residents of Southeast Asia like to tell stories about how durian is banned from public transport, hotels, and public buildings. Even in New York, a park on Manhattan’s Lower East Side bans the fruit, a measure that seems excessive. How to describe the scent of durian to someone who has never sniffed the fruit? It’s highly personal. I smell a medley of intoxicatingly tropical goodness. My husband smells garbage. I’m convinced it’s like the cilantro conundrum, now explained by science: The love-or-hate extremes are about taste receptors and are coded in our genes. So this missive is addressed to those already in Camp Durian and to those still in Camp Curious. There is no converting the members of Camp Appalled (and it’s not your fault).