The durian is the large, spike-armoured fruit of Durio zibethinus, a tall tropical tree of Southeast Asia, celebrated across the region as the "king of fruits." Its woody, thorn-covered husk splits along seams into segments holding lobes of rich, pale-yellow, custard-like flesh — at once intensely sweet, savoury and faintly bitter — whose powerful sulfurous aroma, variously read as onion, rotten egg, almond and warm caramel, is so pervasive that the fruit is banned from many hotels, aircraft and metro systems.