Mission: Starfruit

I received a call out of the blue from a gentleman, we'll call him Lawrence. He informed me that he had a tree that had exploded with the tropical starfruit. There was no joking about that! I had prepared myself to bring quite a bit back to the kitchen with me, but what you see here is probably 1o or 15 percent of the fruit that the tree had produced. Lawrence is more than happy to have us over to take much, much more off of his hands.

The starfruit, or Carambola is a tropical fruit that has a waxy, golden or green skin and mild, yet complicated flavors that seem to pair well with many other fruits. Originally from Sri Lanka and Moluccas, the starfruit thrives in the Hawaiian Islands due to the warm environment. The starfruit has no fat or cholesterol, and is a great source of Vitamin C.

They are great in fruit salads, chutneys and salsas, but they make a refreshing and impressive garnish to almost any dish or drink. With the amount of free starfruit we now have access to, bet that you will be seeing them on this blog in many different preparations.



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