How did carambola become the "most unpalatable" fruit in the world?

If some fruits win popularity with their taste, then carambola must be popular with its appearance.

Image source: pxhere

Whenever I see such beautiful star fruits at the fruit stall, I always feel the urge to buy a box of star fruits. But the result of impulse buying is often disappointing - such beautiful star fruits, why are they so unpalatable! ! And they are so expensive! !

And Tadpole found that this was not just his feeling. Many people thought that carambola was unpalatable. Some people even tasted a fishy smell, and some even declared that carambola was the most unpalatable fruit in the world.

A big question: why can’t we eat delicious carambola?

01

The appearance is attractive, but the taste is disgusting?

In botany, the official scientific name of carambola is Averrhoa carambola, also known as five-leaved fruit. But don't be confused by the name of carambola, it is not related to peach, cherry, kiwi and other fruits with the word "peach" in their names. It is a tree plant of the genus Averrhoa in the family Oxalidaceae. The whole tree can grow up to 12 meters high. It is native to Malaysia and Indonesia, and is grown in tropical areas of my country such as Hainan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, etc.

Our common Oxalis plant Oxalis, picture source pxhere

Because of the differences in temperature, humidity, carambola varieties and other factors in different places, the flowering period of carambola spans a large range. It blooms from April to December every year and bears fruit from July to December every year.

The carambola fruit is ellipsoidal in shape, with five vertical ridges on most surfaces. It is green when immature and yellow when ripe. Because the flesh looks like stars when cut cross-sectioned, carambola is also called "star fruit". After seeing these stars, people can't help but want to buy it and eat it. It has become popular because of its appearance.

Image source: pexels

People who have tasted carambola have quite different opinions about it. Some think it is sweet and crispy and delicious, but most think it is sour and astringent and tastes terrible (Tadpole thinks it tastes like biting cotton).

Why is the carambola, which looks so good, not tasty? This has a lot to do with the fact that carambola is not easy to preserve.

Most of the carambolas we eat are transported from other places. Ripe carambolas tend to become soft and rotten and are not suitable for long-distance transportation, so they are usually picked and shipped before they are fully ripe.

Unripe carambolas are quite sour and astringent, and unlike fruits like bananas, carambolas are not as easy to ripen, so most of the carambolas we eat are not very tasty. In fact, ripe and fresh carambolas taste good.

02

Unlock several ways to eat carambola

If the carambola you bought doesn’t taste good, perhaps you can try the following ways to eat it.

Before eating carambola, we must first process the fruit properly. After washing, cut off the ends of the carambola, remove the small edges of the longitudinal ridges, and then rub the carambola skin until you can tear off its thin skin. At this time, we get a carambola that can be eaten directly.

Among the ways of eating carambola with sauces, people are more accepting of dipping carambola in sugar or sour plum powder. It has a crispy and sour-sweet taste. You can also try it.

In Hainan, local residents have two classic ways to eat carambolas, pickled carambolas and carambolas sour fish soup. Pickled carambolas are made by adding sugar, chili salt and homemade chili sauce to the cut carambolas; carambolas sour fish soup is made by adding enough carambolas pulp to the fish soup. Friends who want to eat it can cook it by themselves, or taste it when traveling to Hainan. It may open up a new world of carambolas for you~

03

I heard that carambola is harmful to the body?

As much as the appearance and taste of the star fruit has attracted attention, its "toxicity" is also a concern.

The flesh of carambola is rich in juice and has high nutritional value. However, there are news reports that carambola can cause poisoning. Could it be that the nutritional value of carambola is false and its toxicity is true?

Image source: Xinhua News Agency Weibo

In fact, the poisonousness or non-toxicity of carambola cannot be generalized and needs to be analyzed based on specific circumstances.

Star fruit contains oxalate and a neurotoxin, which is a toxic substance that is destructive to nerve tissue. Normal people can metabolize these substances out of the body as quickly as possible, but certain people cannot metabolize these substances smoothly. Eating too much star fruit may cause acute kidney damage and neurotoxicity. Poisoned patients will show symptoms such as hiccups, vomiting, agitation, hematuria, etc. In severe cases, they may also experience coma, epilepsy, and impaired consciousness.

It is recommended that normal people can eat star fruit, but not too much, 1-2 per day is enough; patients with hypertension, diabetes, gastrointestinal diseases, chronic pancreatitis, etc. should be cautious when eating star fruit and its products; people with kidney disease or renal insufficiency are prohibited from eating star fruit.

Survey: What fruit do you think is the most unpalatable?

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Tadpole Musical Notation original article, please indicate the source when reprinting

Editor/Heart and Paper