The durian and the mangosteen have long been hailed as the King and Queen of fruits respectively, due not only to their rich and deep tastes, but also their supposed nutritional and medicinal properties.

Who were the ones who accredited such glorious titles to these tropical fruits? Well, in 1856, the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace called the Durian the king of fruits, and in 1903, explorer David Fairchild called the Mangosteen the queen of fruits.

While the mangosteen leaves an indelible stain on fabric should one be careless when eating, its taste has been likened to a warm, buttery mixture of peach, passionfruit and lychee. In fact, it is so highly acclaimed that many around the world believe it to be the world’s best-tasting fruit.

The durian, on the other hand, has found it much harder to curry favour with its strong, pungent smell, despite having had its taste likened to “rich custard highly flavoured with almonds”, and Wallace’s declaration that “to eat Durians is a new sensation worth a voyage to the East to experience”. However, those who enjoy the fruit are more often nothing less than ardent fans, and there have been stories of people mortgaging possessions just to gorge on the fruit!

But the reason why these fruits make a great Royal couple is not just because of their exquisite tastes. In fact, the Chinese believe that eating both fruits together balance out the durian’s excessive warming properties and the mangosteen’s acidic cooling properties!