D24 durian ice cream brings in extra income for entrepreneur
A DURIAN crepe seller, Norhabibah Herman, was just browsing through recipes on Facebook when she spotted one which she described as a tempting homemade durian ice cream recipe.
Out of curiosity, the 30-year-old mother of one tried it. Little did she know that it would be the source of her side income.
“I tried it just for fun. I never thought of turning it into another saleable dessert as I have been producing 200 packs of durian crepe for sale daily since 2015.
“But my family and friends liked the ice cream so much and talked me into it.
“So, since December last year, after gaining confidence and improvising the recipe to achieve my preferred flavour and texture, I started taking orders from the public.
“The reason I am not afraid to introduce this ice cream is I know that the durian, or the King of Fruits, has its own fans who would love anything that uses durian as the base ingredient,” she told Bernama.
Norhabibah said apart from other ingredients, she only uses D24-type durian flesh to make her durian ice cream.
“The flesh of D24-type durian is thick and creamy and is good to be used as the base ingredient of other end products.
“I get my supply of durian flesh from the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (FAMA) and also from other suppliers.
“Now, I can produce 70 to 80 tubs of ice cream daily, which I sell for RM6 each,” said Norhabibah, who runs the business with her husband, Mohd Syukri Sulaiman, 32.
In making the ice cream, she said only 20 minutes are needed to blend all the ingredients, but the process of freezing it takes at least six hours or one day for the best result.
Norhabibah said she never thought that she would receive overwhelming demand for her ice cream, now branded as Eskrem Durian D24 by Ebah Herman, including from FAMA which has been helping her to sell it at its House of Durian FAMA in Jerantut, near Kuantan.
“Most of my customers said they liked the durian ice cream because of its creamy taste. They said it was like eating a fresh durian flesh,” she said, beaming with pride.
At present, Norhabibah said she could only promote her ice cream via Facebook and Instagram, but she hopes to spread her wings statewide by appointing several sales agents soon.