To All,
While prowling the aisles of Stop&Shop, I came across the visually arresting star fruit (aka carambola). If you want to create a decorative still life, then this is the fruit for you. It will draw the eye and ignite conversation. It will make your living room into a salon as artists are drawn to paint your still life.
This fruit is maybe four inches long and shaped somewhat, like a stubby cucumber. Rather than smooth like most fruits it has six prominent ridges that run the length of the fruit. (Some varieties have five ridges.) This longitudinal peak and valley construction gives it in cross section the look of a six pointed star, hence its name. It is neon yellow and green. (Brown spots indicate it is overripe.) The combination of bizarre shape and unusual color scheme makes this fruit a real eye-catcher. See pictures below.
To prepare, cut about a quarter inch off of each end, then trim the top off of each ridge from end to end. This is quick and easy. Then cut it cross-wise as you would a cucumber into slices a quarter-inch thick (or get creative). The only part of this fruit that is a hassle is that you will probably want to remove the two or three seeds from each slice. The visual appeal extends to this stage as each slice is a little six-pointed star. This fruit could be used to teach astronomy.
Pop a de-seeded slice into your mouth.Various web sites compare the texture to apple or watermelon, but to me it is much like cucumber with a very slight crunch followed by melting in your mouth. The taste is pleasant. That might sound like damning with faint praise, but so be it. To me there was no strong taste. (A super-taster like Mei-Mei would probably detect all sorts of entrancing sensations.)
The verdict: One can't help but like such a goofy fruit. It's a little expensive at $1.99, but you get a lot of fruit, so it is a much better bargain than passion fruit, and the fruit has lots of little extras that justify the occasional purchase of such a diverting dessert.
This fruit is like a cucumber in so many ways (shape, method of cutting, texture) that I would call it "tree cucumber" if it didn't already have such an apt name.
The Fruit Explorer
