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Starfruit

Starfruit (Averrhoa carambola), a tropical fruit native to the Malayan archipelago also called Carambola, belongs to the family Oxalidaceae. The fruit, with its sweet-sour taste is a popular delicacy here, most often eaten raw. The fruit displays an attractive star-shape when cut, thus its popular name.

Origins and distribution
Carambola supposedly has its origins in the local region, found in the islands of Java up to the Philippines. From the Malayan archipelago, it spread to other parts of the world. The Portuguese came across the fruit first in India before they encountered it in Malaya. In India it was called carambola in the Malayalam language and this was thus the name that the Portuguese took on. The word carambola is derived from the Sanskrit word karmaranga meaning "food appetiser". The Portuguese took the fruit from India to Africa and South America. When it reached Europe in the 18th century, it was considered a fashionable fruit and was served only in exclusive restaurants. In Malaysia, the main areas of cultivation are in Johor, Selangor, Kedah, Perak, Melaka and Negri Sembilan. Many varieties of the tree are found, with fruits ranging from sour to sweet. Sour carambola plants are found commonly in the wild while the sweeter varieties are the ones that are cultivated. The plants are propagated asexually by the Javanese through budding seedlings and marcotting.

Description
Carambola shrub grows up to 12 m in height in cultivation, but in the wild it grows much higher. The trunk is short and crooked. It branches near the base and has an irregular dense crown. The bark, greyish-brown to dark grey, is smooth. The leaves of the tree are small, measuring between 15 to 25 cm in length. They are arranged alternately and grow along a horizontal plane. When young, seven to nine leaflets are arranged together and they seem sensitive to touch or external stimuli. Carambola flowers are produced in a tuft, measure two to three cm long, and are pentamerous. The starfruit is a large fleshy berry of a rich amber colour when ripe. When cut cross-sectionally, it is shaped like a star, hence the name starfruit. It is a very juicy fruit with a sweet-sour taste.

Usage and potential
Food
The starfruit is usually consumed fresh or made into a refreshing juice drink. The Malays use it in making tarts, jams, pickle it as sunti, salt it as achar and boil to make it into a syrup called manisan. The Javanese use the unique tasting flowers in salads. Carambola is also processed into jellies, sweets and cordial concentrates. The fruit is cooked in different ways by the people of Goa and Kerala in India.

Medicine
A related species of carambola, A. bilimbi, is used commonly in traditional Malay medicine. Sometimes carambola tree parts are substituted for parts of A. bilimbi, though this not a widely practised feature. Malays crush the leaves and shoots and use it as application for chickenpox, ringworm and headaches. Vomiting is treated by giving a decoction of the leaves and fruits while in India and China, the roots were made into a decoction with other ingredients and used to treat poisoning. A conserve of the fruit is used to treat drunk people for bad bilious attacks and diarrhoea. Carambola fruit juice is used as a body coolant and drunk by those suffering from fever. In Indochina, lacquer workers rubbed the flowers over the itchy or sore parts of their skin, a condition arising from exposure to lacquer. The inner portion of the bark was used along with sandal wood as a powder application for prickly heat. The leaves, roots and stem of carambola tree is believed to contain hydrocyanic acid. 

Other uses
The juice of the fruit, being acidic, is used to clean metal surfaces. Starfruits are offered by the Chinese at their ancestral altars as "golden stars", a precious offering.

Variant names
Common name: Starfruit.
Scientific name: Averrhoa carambola.
Malay names: Belimbing manis (sweet variety), Belimbing Besi , Belimbing sagi (angle variety), Belimbing sayor (green-vegetable variety), Belimbing batu (rock variety) (Malaysia), Blimbing alas, Blimbing manis, Blimbing legi, Blimbing wana, Balingbing, Chalingching amis, Balimbing manis (Indonesia).
Other common names: Carambola. 



Author
Naidu Ratnala Thulaja



References
Burkill, I. H. (1993). A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula (pp. 273-274). Kuala Lumpur: Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives.
(Call no.: RSING 634.909595 BUR)

Othman Yaacob & Subhadrabandhu, S. (1995). The production of economic fruits in south-east Asia (pp. 171-174). New York: Oxford University Press.
(Call no.: R 634.0959 OTH)

Starfruit. (1993). Asian Pacific Panorama, 2, 206-211.
(Call no.: RCLOS 950 APP)


Further Readings
Malaysian Ministry of Agriculture. (2001, September 3). Fruit technology: Star Fruit (Averrhoea carambola). Retrieved February 28, 2003, from  http://agrolink.moa.my/doa/BI/Croptech/starfruit.html 

The information in this article is valid as at 1999 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history on the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.

Subject
Nature>>Plants
Tropical fruit--Singapore
Carambola
Science and technology>>Agriculture>>Fruit crops



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