Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Starfruit: Strange and Beautiful

The other day I was watching some cooking show and there were a few slices of starfruit on the finished plate.  I thought, "how pretty and how strange" and I looked at my husband and told him I'd never had it before. So he told me to get one next time I'm at the store.

Lo and behold, I went to the grocery store a couple days later and there was a whole bunch of starfruit sitting right there! So I had to get one!

I wasn't quite sure what to do with it or how to go about eating it at first but I just started slicing it into these beautiful bright green star shapes!

The flavor was somewhat reminiscent of a grapefruit to me.  Definitely sweet and tart and juicy.  And it was segmented like any other citrus fruit. The skin was kinda thick and rubbery, which I don't normally like fruit skin anyway, so I trimmed that off.  But the flavor of the fruit was light and refreshing. And it was a nice addition to my yogurt-with-granola breakfast this morning.

Apparently the starfruit comes from a tree native to the Philippines called carambola. And they are rich in antioxidants and vitamin C and low in sugar.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carambola

So they're strange and beautiful and good for you too!

3 comments:

  1. I always thought they were so pretty looking, especially when sliced.

    Just an FYI- My mom was told not to eat them when she was diagnosed with end stage kidney failure. Apparently, they contain something that can cause major problems for people with serious kidney disease.

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  2. I've heard that! Kinda like how grapefruit interacts with certain medications. Isn't that weird?!

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  3. Thanks Donna for the star fruit information. I have had this fruit in pickle, that my friends mom use to make but never the fresh fruit. I guess I will give it a go as they are good for you.

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