Balimbing or star fruit (Averrhoa carambola Linn.) occurs in a cultivated or semicultivated state throughout the Philippines.
The fruit is fleshy, acid, green or greenish-yellow, and edible. It is eaten with or without salt rather extensively by Filipinos and the juice is often used for seasoning. As in kamias, the juice is used in washing clothes and removes spot or stains. The fruit is made also into pickles and sweets.
Medical properties: Vermifuge, laxative, refrigerant, antiscorbutic, febrifuge, sialogogue, antiphlogistic, stimulant, emmenagogue, anodyne, emetic. Studies indicate the presence of saponins, alkaloids, flavonoids and tannins.
Balimbing Juice
Procedure
- Select good quality and fruits. Fruits with damage taste bad.
- Extract using cheese cloth or mechanical juice extractor.
- If refractometer is available, adjust sugar to 11 degree brix. Otherwise, adjust sugar until the sweetness compares to ripe grapes.
- If you want a shelf stable balimbing juice, pasteurize at 75 degree brix for 15 minutes.
- Pack immediately in sterilized bottle and seal.
Balimbing Prunes
Ingredients:
- 3 kg balimbing (regular size)
- 4 tsp. lime or apog (dissolved in 8 cups water)
- 2 kg brown sugar
- 3 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 pc. bay leaf
- 1 tsp. calamansi juice
Procedure
- Prepare the fruit by removing the sharp edges.
- Prick the middle part of the fruit.
- Soak in lime solution for 12 hrs.
- Wash thoroughly.
- Mix other ingredients and cook without stirring until the fruit becomes dark brown.
- Soak overnight in syrup. Drain.
- Dry under the heat of the sun. Oven can be used in drying at 70 °C until it become tough.
sources: bpi.da.gov.ph, stuartxchange.org, asenso.typepad.com, foodrecap.net, photo from marketmanila.com
