Five Fingers a.k.a Carambola a.k.a Star Fruit
Filed Under vegetarian, techniques, thoughts, articles | Posted on January 5, 2007
Carambola is a fruit that was not very popular in my life until recent years, possibly a casualty of the flood of foreign fruit imports that became popular in the Nineties. Now however, with everyone tightening their belt, local produce is once again taking center stage in local supermarkets. As this is my first entry in Weekend Herb Blogging (hosted this time around by its founder Kalyn) I thought that was a great way to get feedback on this odd item 
So what is this fruit all about? Well as you can see it looks a lot like a starfish in cross section (thus the fanciful names Starfruit and Five Fingers). It is very tart in taste (with a curious sweet aftertaste), crunchy, and filled with liquid. I’m still figuring out ways to utilize this fruit in my repertoire. I made an awesome bread with it yesterday. If you have any tips or suggestions do tell!
… the carambola, more popularly known as star fruit, but also coromandel gooseberry, is a golden-yellow to green berry. When cut across it shows a 5-pointed (sometimes 6-pointed or 7-pointed) star shape, hence the name, “star fruit.” Star fruits are crunchy, and have a slightly tart, acidic, sweet taste, reminiscent of pears, apples, and sometimes grapes. The fruits are a good source of vitamin C. Its seeds are small and brown. They consist of a tough outer skin and a tangy white inside.
There are two varieties of star fruit - acidulate and sweet. The tart varieties can often be identified by their narrowly spaced ribs. The sweet varieties usually have thick fleshy ribs.
The fruit starts out green, and goes to yellow as it ripens, though it can be eaten in both stages.
The fruit is rich in juice to the extent that one can make wine out of them.
Related Posts:
36 Responses to “Five Fingers a.k.a Carambola a.k.a Star Fruit”
Leave a Reply
Loading ...
ooo i like starfruit, but it makes my mouth get itchy
it tastes like very tart apple mixed with pear to me.
boo
ooo i’m sorry to hear that boo
i guess that means you’re allergic to it?
Well you know when I was younger I used to make chow with it, but these days I am into chutney and compotes. So you may want to try that Nikki…
i hate compotes
chutney is a good idea tho… chow too!! will try those!! 
star fruit scares me! i would like to get over it though and actually make something with it.
Hi Rachel!
Thanks so much for popping by! 
Why does star fruit scare you? The appearance? The taste? 
They are odd little things aren’t they? 
Really enjoyed the article. I’ve used carambola in my Australian gastronomy menu, in this case a guava and carambola tart. I picked guavas daily, at age 4 when my family briefly lived in Monserrat. We’d roll them in sugar before eating them, is this also common in Trinidad?
Guava and carambola tart!!! Well that sounds amazing! I’m a gonna jot that down Mr. Trig!!!
Poor Montserrat, that’s the volcano island right?
I have never eaten guava raw… it scared me in appearance too much. I have seen friends eat it raw but never rolled in sugar 
I love guava jelly though or anything made from it … awww litle 4 year old picking guava 
but at 4 you could only be picking them off the grass no? 
I love guava but was always afraid of the worms girlie. THER ARE ALWAYS WORMS!
WORMS??? OH GEEEDD!!! I found it looked nasty raw, and this will NOT help
I don’t think I’ve ever had starfruit.
Mom is shelling peas and says no don’t help her because she remembers when people were younger and someone used to help her once someone saw a worm they’d run and leave her alone.
eeew worm in peaz too?! all yuh want me to stop cooking!!!!
you never see worm in peas??
lord where you live?
meuh! :O
Beautiful photos and really interesting information. I’ve always wondered about Star Fruit — it’s so exotic looking. I’d really like to try it.
Thanks T.W.! Is it easily found in the US? I am surprised at how familiar people are with it
The bread I made was really good, I hope to post it within the next few days (i procrastinate!)
:-p
Ok, Sarina, you letting out your secrets - clearly you never shell some pigeon peas if you never came across the worms
And apparently I should have done more running as a child, since I remember shelling BUCKETS by myself!
And I love love love guava, still in mourning for our fallen, laden tree. Even with worms, I like it raw, half-ripe, very ripe mmmm…
Unfortunately I have yet to acclimatise to five finger - texture, taste, not into it.
There was always a way to tell if some peas has worms. The part with the worm was always kinda discolored or something so I would avoid that like the plague!
Worms in peas was the worst! I was always screaming! hahahaha
Chennette - but i used to shell peas.. i used to love shell peas… into my aunt’s big enamel bowl… a set of us … i don’t remember no worms
maybe i blocked it out … 
Maybe you had *expensive* peas!
Very interesting. I think I might have tasted this once in China, do you think that’s possible? At least I remember something that looked kind of like this. No idea how to use it in a recipe.
lilandra -
kalyn - i think it’s quite possible!
I made a bread with it a few days ago that I’ll post and submit to WHB in the near future 
I also got some great ideas for chutneys and even a pie from commenters 
I can’t wait 
starfruit is not uncommon here in larger grocery stores at all. it’s been around for many years. it is however quite astringent. i like it
great for presentation, mostly.
I’ll be posting my carambola bread recipe tomorrow
stay tuned! 
When I lived in the Philippines, I do remember we have star fruit over there. I’ve never tasted it though.
Veron - Like some have mentioned it’s very tart… a very odd fruit
:-p
(silly duplicate comment detector)
hehehe … yuh trying to pull a chennette or what? spam detector in all yuh runktaung
Umm Nikki How this post get so much comments gyul?!
marsha - never doubt the power of the carambola
way!!! 31 now 32!!
!!!
lilandra - yuh licking Chennette in # of comments
I wasn’t counting that but if you say so! :-p
I get the star fruit/carambola here in the U.S.A.
If it looks as though it is not ripe, I leave it in the open, for approx hmmmm 4 or more days (depending on how tart I suspect it might be) or
if I want it ripened in a shorter time, I put in in a brown bag, close the top of the bag, and leave it to ripe. They are always sweet after I do this. So I never get the itchy lips that I used to get when I was a kid. Also, I love to cook and this fruit is great for jams, jellies, drinks and juices, pickles, salads,cakes, pie filling and much more
I have a five finger tree in my back garden. Actually, it is my neighbour’s tree but its branches cover my back garden. I learned all about it from my neighbour. I did not know its name until she told me that the fruits are known as five fingers and they make a delicious drink. Yes indeed, the drink make from five fingers is really delicious. I’m thinking of writing a poem about five fingers.
Paterika
http://www.poetrynest.blogspot.com