Carambola (starfruit) recipies?

Question

Looks like I'm going to have yet another bumper crop (probably about 20 on my tree about ripe now) and there's only so many pretty fruit salads one can eat.... anybody have any good/interesting recipies?

Oh my goodness, it's not THAT much of a bumper crop! hehe, how will I EVER pick a best answer..... Thanks everyone, not sure where I'm gonna start yet, and there's only three answers!!!

Answer 1

Recipes:

Carambola Fruit Salad 1 sliced, seeded carambola, with 1 banana, sliced
brown edges removed Juice of 1 lime
1 orange, peeled and sliced


Lightly mix fruit with lime juice. Serve cold over lettuce leaves or as fruit cups.



Sweet Carambola Relish
8 cups thingly sliced carambolas 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups cider vinegar 1 tablespoon whole cloves
4 cups sugar 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg, optional but good*
Wash and thinly slice carambolas, taking care to remove seeds. Cover with cider by vinegar and allow to stand overnight. Drain off vinegar. Combine carambolas with sugar and salt. Add cloves (which have been placed in a cheesecloth bag and lightly pounded). Cook gently to the consistency of preserves. Allow to stand overnight. Remove spice bag and reheat mixture to boiling. Pack into hot pint jars. Wipe jar mouths and adjust lids. Process in boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes. Yield: about 5 pints.

*Note: when making for long term storage it is probably best to omit the nutmeg if you do not want a dark relish, although it certainly adds to the flavor.

Answer 2

Try using the Carambola in the other courses, not just the dessert. The firmness of the flesh means that this fruit works very well in savoury salads, too. Carambola is similar in many ways to red, green or yellow peppers and can be used in many of the same dishes.

The chef at a restaurant I used to manage came up with a beautiful starfruit and orange dressing for duck dishes.
The duck had been rubbed with rock-salt, roasted slowly and basted with red wine. I can tell you how the sauce was made, but I'm afraid I would be guessing if I gave you specific measurements.

Some of the starfruit flesh only (cut the skin off) should be blitzed down with a few segments of orange (there should be more Carambola than orange as the flavour will be easily overwhelmed. Add a splash of Cointreau or triple sec, a drop of vanilla essence, a large spoonful of honey and blitz again. add a little water and some demerara sugar and then simmer until the liquid is syrupy. The leftover starfruit was used as part of the garnish for the dish.

By the way, there was some of this sauce left at the end of Saturday's service once which the chef mixed with some white wine vinegar and mustard and then used as a fantastic salad dressing for a BBQ at his house the following day!

Answer 3

Carambola juice
1 carambola or star fruit
1-1 1/2 cup water
1 tahitian lime, juice of
raw sugar

Remove any green bits off the star fruit.
Roughly chop.
Add star fruit, lime juice and water into blender and liquidise.
Add sugar if wanted and quickly blend again to mix.
Some people prefer this strained.
I personally like the fruit in my juice.
Chill.

1 batch