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!