- Also called:
- star fruit
- Related Topics:
- fruit
Carambola
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What is a carambola fruit?
The carambola, or star fruit, (Averrhoa carambola) is a sweet and sour fruit native to tropical Asia. The evergreen carambola tree produces oblong fruits, yellow to orange in color, with a star shape when cut in cross section.
Barely ripe carambolas have a sharp taste, but as they ripen, they acquire notes of pear, melon, and gooseberry. The juicy bite of a carambola is an appetite stimulant and palate cleanser and is consumed raw, as a juice, or candied in sugar syrup. The fruit contains vitamins A and C, calcium, folate, potassium, and oxalic acids and has antioxidant properties.
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What does a carambola look like?
The carambola, or star fruit, is a waxy, oblong fruit, typically yellow to orange in color. It features five angles along its length, so that a cross-section cut reveals a star shape. The plant blooms up to four times a year, producing multiple crops. Its small, fragrant flowers range in color from rose to pale purple.
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Why is carambola sometimes called 'star fruit'?
The carambola, also known as star fruit, gets its nickname from the star shape that is revealed when the fruit is cut in cross section. The carambola is native to tropical Asia and is now grown in other tropical areas. The fruit is often consumed raw, as a juice, or candied.
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Where is carambola commonly grown?
Carambola is native to tropical Asia but is now extensively cultivated in other tropical areas, including Australia, Hawaii, Guyana, Florida, and Israel. This slow-growing small tree produces multiple crops a year with fragrant flowers that give way to waxy, star-shaped fruits.
In Southeast and South Asian cuisine, carambolas are valued for their cooling properties and are used as appetite stimulants and palate cleansers. They also have medicinal uses in countries including Singapore, Malaysia, and Taiwan, where they are considered a cure for sore throats.
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What nutrients does carambola provide?
Carambolas are abundant in vitamins A and C, and they also contain calcium, folate, potassium, and oxalic acids. These fruits are low in sugar and possess antioxidant properties. In Southeast and South Asian cuisine, carambolas are considered to have cooling properties. They are also used as an appetite stimulant and palate cleanser. In countries including Singapore, Malaysia, and Taiwan, carambolas are even considered a cure for sore throats. However, people with kidney disease should avoid carambola because its oxalic acids can exacerbate uremia.
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How is carambola used in cooking or food recipes?
The carambola fruit, native to tropical Asia, is used in a variety of culinary applications. The fruit has a verjuicelike sharpness when barely ripe, but as it ripens, it acquires notes of pear, melon, and gooseberry, with a balance of flavors that is lightly sweet and sour.
Carambola is often consumed raw, as a juice, or candied in sugar syrup. Pastry chefs use slices of the fruit for decorative, five-pointed stars. In the United States, some winemakers produce crisp white wines from its juice.
In Southeast and South Asian cuisine, carambolas have a cooling aura and are seasoned with salt or chili powder. They are also used as an appetite stimulant and palate cleanser and are believed to cure sore throats in countries including Singapore, Malaysia, and Taiwan.
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Carambola, (Averrhoa carambola), woody plant of the wood sorrel family (Oxalidaceae) and its edible fruit, native to tropical Asia and extensively cultivated in tropical areas. Barely ripe carambola has a verjuicelike sharpness. As it ripens, it acquires notes of pear, melon, and gooseberry, with a balance of flavours that is lightly sweet and sour. The fruit is often consumed raw or as a juice or candied in sugar syrup. Pastry chefs use the fruit for the decorative five-pointed stars that it can be sliced into. In the United States, some winemakers produce crisp white wines from its juice.
The carambola tree is a slow-growing small tree with somewhat drooping branches. The leaves are evergreen and pinnately compound with 5 to 11 leaflets. The plant blooms up to four times a year, thus producing multiple crops. The small fragrant flowers are rose to pale purple in colour and are borne in red-stemmed clusters in the leaf axils throughout the year. Pollinated flowers give way to waxy oblong to ellipsoidal fruits, yellow to orange in colour, that are five-angled and reveal a star shape when cut in cross section. The seeds are surrounded by a thin fleshy pulp.
In Southeast and South Asian cuisine, carambolas have the same ineffably cooling aura as watermelon or papaya, seasoned with a pinch of salt or chili powder. A carambola’s juicy bite makes it a good appetite stimulant and palate cleanser; in countries including Singapore, Malaysia, and Taiwan, it is even considered a cure for sore throats. Other medicinal uses, some traced to Ayurvedic practice, include aids to digestion and to reducing thirst, diarrhea, and vomiting in episodes of food poisoning. In traditional Chinese medicine, carambola root is used to treat diabetes. In Vietnam and other countries, carambola juice is said to improve vision and is used in the form of eye drops. It is a diuretic, and in some cultures it is believed to ameliorate the effects of the overconsumption of alcohol. The proanthocyanidins in carambolas, similar to those in cranberries, can help combat the effects of harmful bacteria such as E. coli and can ease symptoms of gastric ulcers. People with kidney disease, however, are advised to avoid carambola, since its oxalic acids can exacerbate uremia.
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Carambolas are often confused with a close relative, the bilimbi (Averrhoa bilimbi). Bilimbis taste very similar to carambolas but are more acidic and astringent; they are used to sour curries, pickles, and chutneys in India and Southeast Asia. Both fruits are often candied in sugar syrup.
Carambolas contain abundant quantities of vitamins A and C as well as calcium, folate, potassium, and oxalic acids. They are low in sugar and have antioxidant properties.
Today carambolas are extensively cultivated outside their tropical Asian homeland, being grown in places such as Australia, Hawaii, Guyana, Florida, and Israel. The mature carambola plant can tolerate temperatures down to just below freezing, although the young plant cannot. The plant also makes for a pleasing ornamental when grown in containers.