Food: Durian fruit is a good source of carbohydrates and also contains significant amounts of protein and vitamins B and C. Its rich pulp is eaten raw, cooked as a vegetable, frozen or dried for later use. Indonesians ferment the pulp for a side dish or mix the fleshy arils with rice and sugar to produce a local dish, lempuk. The seeds can be boiled or roasted and used as confections.

General and Preprocessed Durian: Due to popular durian consumption among Thais and foreigners alike, farmers have doubled the land used to grow durian. An unavoidable result is a slump in durian prices. This encourages people to seek new outlets for durian by developing products from the excess of fresh fruit. To absorb excess supplies during harvest, durian is sometimes processed into frozen durian, durian chips, durian cake, sweet dried durian, French-fried durian, ice cream and candies. Processed durian products are mostly supplied to the domestic market, while frozen durian is not common among local consumers. Other motivations for developing durian products are to:

- Develop value-added products.
- Extend the shelf life of durian.
- Extend the marketing period.
- Solve the odor problem (unlike fresh durian, durian products can be shipped by air without becoming odorous)
- Reduce the cost shipment (some durian valued-added products are less heavy than fresh durian).

Other useful durian materials

Rind: The dried or half-dried rinds are burned as fuel, and fish may be hung in the smoke to acquire a strong flavor. The ash is used to bleach silk.
Wood: The sapwood is white. The heartwood is light red-brown, soft, coarse, durable and termite-resistant is used in interior construction and for making cheaper types of furniture and packing cases. It is also used for masts and interiors of houses in Malaysia .
Medicinal Uses: The fruit is believed to have medicinal properties, restoring health to humans and domestic animals. Leaf, fruit and root extracts are used to reduce fever, and in treatment of jaundice, swelling and skin diseases. The flesh is said to serve as a vermifuge. In Malaysia , a decoction of the leaves and roots is prescribed as a febrifuge. The leaf juice is applied on the head of a fever patient. The leaves are employed in medicinal baths for people with jaundice. Decoctions of the leaves and fruits are applied to swellings and skin diseases. The ash of the burned rind is taken after childbirth. The leaves probably contain hydroxy-tryptamines and mustard oils.

The odor of the flesh is believed to be linked to indole compounds which are bacteriostatic. Eating durian is alleged to restore the health of ailing humans and animals. The flesh is widely believed to act as an aphrodisiac. In the late 1920's, Durian Fruit Products, Inc., of New York City, launched a product called "Dur-India" as a "health-food accessory" in tablet form, selling at US$ 9 for a dozen bottles, each containing 63 tablets - a 3-months' supply. The tablets reputedly contained durian and a species of Allium from India, as well as a considerable amount of vitamin E. They were claimed to provide "more concentrated healthful energy in food form than any other product the world affords"- to keep the body vigorous and tireless, the mind alert with faculties undimmed, the spirit youthful.

Essential oils: The emitted substances may be divided into sulphur-compounds like linear and cyclic sulphides, mercaptans and thio-esters, and the more typical fruity odorants including a great number of aliphatic esters and alpha-hydroxyketones (acetoins). In a study by Näf and Velluz it was found that the fruity aspect of the durian flavour is influenced by ethyl deca-2,4-dienoates, -3,6-dienoates and -2,4,7-trienoates. Weenen et al. identified one of the strongest smelling sulfur compounds in durian to be 3,5-dimethyl-1,2,4-trithiolane. They also found that ethyl 2-methylbutanoate had the strongest odour impact among the non-sulfurous odorants.

Apiculture: The nectar and pollen collected by the honeybee from the durian trees are important honey source. The honey characteristics are however not known (e.g Eva, Crane).

Value added products of durian in pictures:

Packed durian aril on sale		Durian flavored snack food

Durian cake or “dodol”

Durian candy		Durian Pie

Durian cendol		Durian drink

Durian Ice-cream	Durian chips	Neways Duri–Fusion Drink

Durian “moon” cake		Vacuum freeze-dry durian aril

Frozen whole durian and flesh

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