Forget all about the shaking and smelling. Your quest to find a perfect durian has just gotten a whole lot easier.
Three students from Bang Saphan Industrial and Community Education College (it’s about three hours outside Bangkok) have invented a pen they say can determine a durian’s ripeness — with guaranteed accuracy.
The three young men, Methee Khampuang, Pantiwa Khamkaew, and Somsong Chaeng-aksorn, spent three months creating the pen, which won them an award at the Junior Inventor VEC Thailand in March, according to their teacher Jitwattana Boonlert, who spoke to media today.
The pen features a long needle that is meant to pierce the durian’s peel and measure the resistance of the inside meat.
If the liquid in the pen reaches the green mark, it means the durian is ripe. If it only reaches the yellow, the durian is semi-ripe. The red mark means the durian is raw and inedible.
Jitwattana said that the tool is portable and easy to use, and has already drawn interest from many potential buyers.
The college will help the students register a patent for the tool before selling it at THB1,000 (US$30) each, Matichon reported.
