Star fruit, or Carambola, is the only fruit that can delight you with its star shape. This is a very interesting and funny fruit because it looks like a cartoon fruit. So let’s check these ten facts about the star fruit and learn more about it.
10 Facts About Star Fruit
The taste of this tropical fruit depends upon its varieties – sweet or tart. The sweet one tastes like a punch of pineapple and orange while the tart tastes like lemon.
Star fruit originated in Southeast Asia. Since then it has been cultivated in most of the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. In the US, star fruit is usually grown in Florida and Hawaii.
The star fruit tree is usually 22 to 33 ft in height, evergreen, and single to multi-trunked. While the leaves are compound and arranged alternately in branches, flowers are small and pink to lavender in color. Fruit is fleshy with a waxy surface and 2-6 inches in length with 5 prominent longitudinal ribs – star-shaped in cross-section hence the name star fruit.
Star fruit is available year-round in most supermarkets. When buying star fruit, you should look for shiny, well-shaped fruit. The skin of the unripe fruit is green, which becomes yellow when fully ripened. The ripe star fruit has a sensational sweet smell.
This fruit can be eaten with the skin on. The fruit is popular in Asia, for example, in China, fish is often cooked with this fruit.
Star fruit, is not only one of the most attractive fruits, but it is also very nutritious as well. One large star fruit contains only 42 calories and is enriched with vitamin C and dietary fibers.
Star fruits are great for providing a star quality to your meals. Cut the fruit into slices (no need to take off the peel), remove the seeds, and put the star-shaped slices in your green salads or fresh fruit salads. See the change – it’s amazing!
You can also use these attractive star-shaped fruit slices in decorating cakes, pies, puddings, and other desserts and garnishing baked hams, poultry, or seafood dishes.
A tart variety of star fruit can be an ingredient for cooking chicken, shrimp or meat dishes – it adds an elegant taste.
The starfruit tree loves light and that is why, when there is a lack of light, the leaves of the tree curl up like the wings of a butterfly.
