STARFRUIT : Unripe, Ripe and Tree-Ripened (Carambola) - Weird Fruit Explorer

Episode 493 : Starfruit - Weird Explorer
Species: Averrhoa carambola
Filmed in NYC
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+ MUSIC:
"Nonstop" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
creativecommons...

[@WeirdExplorer]

Check out my top episodes playlist here: kzbin.info/aero/PLvGFkMrO1ZxJldWKpSAhhnxuPYVeCt8oj

[@elchasai]

"...also known as Stair-frut" -with superb deadpan delivery. love it.

[@Ryan6.022]

Leslie Nielsen would be proud.

[@ShayxLA]

All I could think was Coach Z from Homestar Runner and I couldn't be happier.

[@dandelionbomb]

Can anybody tell me where my lasers at?

[@woutermollema]

It sounded kinda like sterfruit, wich is starfruit in dutch.

[@dankemusico5878]

Loved it

[@thexbigxgreen]

"... Also known as Starefrut." You made me snort while I was drinking!

[@stanervin6108]

I usually snort after the drinks.

[@thexbigxgreen]

@@stanervin6108 The two go well together

[@kaiganardea9275]

I feel you.

[@chaddilingus]

I laughed loud enough it startled my kid and doggo.

[@deemster1]

.......are you guys pigs??

[@kaiganardea9275]

I spit my drink at "Stair-frut"

[@LordMazafeff]

As a native Tagalog speaker, his pronunciation of balimbing both horrifies and delights myself.

[@xtrct7303]

But he's pronouncing it the correct ways for malay/indonesian tho

[@thomasgistinger1885]

I just wanted to say thank you for the the information at the beginning of the video regarding starfruit and kidney disease.. I love to eat starfruit, I have been eating it my whole life.. As a kid we had starfruit growing in peoples yards in South Florida.. Now that I am older, I have kidney disease due to complications from a surgery last year.. I have not had starfruit since that surgery and thanks to your information I will stay away from it... Thank you...

[@WeirdExplorer]

Glad to share the info!

[@sierracoker8482]

I’ve always described starfruit’s taste as how you’d imagine “fruit” to taste if you’ve never eaten any kinda fruit before and someone tried to explain fruit to you

[@coco19977]

His humour is so underrated. So subtle and able to deliver it with a poker face. I could never. I love it! Honestly stair freight made me laugh so hard

[@Kikilang60]

I'm still thinking of the person who said, 'You are nice looking young man, and you're good at discribing fruit.' Hard to argue with your gradmother.

[@MandrakeFernflower]

I laughed when you drew the angry face on the methoxybenzene functionality of the toxin

[@korinkooitera2762]

We had a friend with a star fruit tree and we were given two big bags of mostly unripe green/yellow fruit. I loved it and ate a whole bunch in one setting and than coughed up blood. Ever since if I have anything with star fruit in it my throat starts swelling. I suspect it has something to do with the compound when unripe and I made myself allergic? Weird fact.

[@WeirdExplorer]

oh man that's terrifying.

[@spicefreak4726]

That doesn't sound like caramboxin poisoning, to me. My guess would be that the high acidity of the under-ripe fruit in such high quantity was doing your throat, oesophagus or stomach physical harm and now your body's associated that with the fruit and decided not to let you do it again.

[@lenorejohnson5428]

I couldn't eat bananas and strawberry after my first pregnancy, allergies just show up.

[@zackzimmer7167]

Your body made a natural reaction in attempt to combat the compound? Weird fact, or impressive immune system.

[@aR0ttenBANANA]

Finally someone showing the fruit being eaten at the proper time

[@gtametro]

nearly spit my coffee out when you said stair frut

[@ryanlilly198463]

I have kidney disease, and starfruit is a total no-no for me. I've had it a few times before my kidney disease. I liked it, but it is something I can live without for now.

[@sleepyoldtiger372]

Yeah me too...also because I can’t have grapefruit juice. But I miss star fruit.

[@Just1Nora]

I miss spinach...

[@phantombyte00]

I am going through a tough emotional time. Watching your videos really puts me in a good mood and make me smile and sometimes laugh. Your videos are all the wholesome I need right now. I truly thank you.

[@katiekawaii]

I hope things have gotten better for you since you left this comment 🧡

[@rachel4483]

Thumbs up for "ster frut". Now my 5&7yrold boys are running laps around my bedroom repeating your pronunciation. Too many more of those and your channel could rank up there in the favorite list with "you suck at cooking".

[@No-yb2kn]

ysac is a legend

[@seraphi.m]

I thought that said 57 year old boys for a second

[@OkieDokieSmokie]

@@seraphi.m there's really not much difference sometimes.

[@catguy31]

LOL

[@HopelessCT]

Public Displays of Confection made a starfruit candy just earlier.

[@jmbkpo]

Also Lofty Pursuits

[@strider04]

@@jmbkpo they are the same place

[@wesleytownsend8214]

Oh damn I love this hero’s sense of humor. That’s why I watch. Much respect. I wish good health and all the best to you and yours!

[@gamesandst8215]

When you realize his name is weird explorer not just weird fruit explorer lmao XD

[@blaidddrwg-ye9dy]

Pretty sure it used to be weird fruit explorer

[@alejandrorobles6865]

@@blaidddrwg-ye9dy yeah i remember it that way, or is it mandela effect?

[@evelynrose2257]

I remember weird fruit explorer too. Huh.

[@dittocopys]

when did this happen??

[@succyeri69]

Yeh he changed it a while ago pretty sure not to limit his content too much

[@Vicerion17]

Not sure if you've already done a video like this but seeing the title of this video made me think of it but maybe a short video explaining the difference between immature/mature and unripe/ripe. This was something I was really clueless about until my very first class of culinary school that explain that there is indeed a difference between the two conceptions, how met people confuse them for each other. Just understanding these simple things has really help when it came from getting the best stuff when buying from a store or harvesting both things I grow myself and foraging wild edibles(the wild edibles especially).

[@Just1Nora]

Thanks for putting kidney warnings! It bums me out, but I appreciate knowing that it's a forbidden fruit before I ever get to taste it, unlike spinach which I miss dearly...

[@ajphickman]

In 2013 my partner at the time and I shared one of these on our first trip together. She's now my wife! I heard that if you share this fruit with someone, your fates will be intertwined, don't know where I heard it from though

[@Arxielle]

Isn't this kingdom hearts? the paopu fruit?

[@ajphickman]

@@Arxielle lmao I think that must be it, can't find anything else that qualifies it. I did play that game a lot

[@neiloppa2620]

Nice :D

[@juch3]

Lmao I love how your marriage was prophesied by a disney game.

[@gr8handsftl]

Love Carambola. There are many, many different varieties. They all taste somewhat differently. It is a fruit that has to be eaten right off the tree and only when ripe. They don't get any sweeter once taken off the tree and when ready will come off the tree earlier. They never get any riper than when picked. The unripe, picked too early, fruits are extremely astringent and sour. not sweet, quite tart. The ripened fruits are extremely sweet, a bit of tartness in the back, but very, very sweet and juicy.

[@rdizzy1]

If you look at studies the actual sugar content of a very partially ripened (stage 2 ripening, still mainly green) carambola is barely any different from a fully tree ripened one (stage 5 ripening), the main differences are that the phenolics are lower and the chlorophyll is lower, both of which are bitter. Only an utterly, fully unripe 100% green one has less sugar, and even still it is not that much left.

[@stickflux]

as someone who grew up with starfruit I can tell you the best way to have them is when the ridges are just starting to go brown and they drop off the tree. if you pick them while they are on the tree, and they are starting to go brown, they are juicy and the texture is like an extra watery pear. the trick that me and my friends discovered to reduce the bitterness is to cut the sides of the "stars" off. the center of the fruit tends to be more sour to, especially if the fruit is picked before being tree-ripened.

[@Qvigg]

Hey there! You and your channel have introduced me to alot. Thanks!

[@WeirdExplorer]

Glad to hear it!

[@WeirdExplorer]

Oops! I left the episode preview out at the end. Its going to be on the Chilean Macadamia Nut (Gevuina avellana)

[@skyline-2818]

Ok thank you for clarification fruit master man his actually helps

[@k8eekatt]

Oooooooh I love macadamia nuts!

[@illiachavez6369]

Wayyy too excited for that one. There is NOT enough information on those, and yet, a local nursery sells trees, and I'm really excited to (one day) try the nuts from mine when it's old enough.

[@k8eekatt]

@@illiachavez6369 Macadamia the king of nuts

[@alecity4877]

I'm surprised you're trying carambola now, it was a fruit that wasn't the most common but it could be found in Venezuelan super markets. We have 3 names for it: carambola, star fruit and chinese tamarind (well, in spanish, tamarindo chino)

[@Vasharan]

Thanks for posting! BTW, in Malaysia, both the sweet starfruit (Averrhoa carambola) and the sour belimbing (Averrhoa bilimbi) are called 'belimbing' in Malay. It's usually obvious from context which one you'll be getting (e.g. if it's a fruit salad, it'd be the starfruit, and if it's a sour cooked curry or in a sambal paste, most likely the sour belimbing).

[@drvelocci]

When I was in Dominican Republic I was walking down the street and a kid stole a star fruit off a tree for I tried it and it was the best star fruit I’ve ever had. Turns out I probably should’ve washed it but it was awesome

[@vatsalamolly]

I cant stop laughing at the "Stair-frut" hahaha

[@zachariahstillwater]

Yes! My Kari is fruiting!!! So good! Juicy and refreshing

[@palindont9238]

That 10/10 fruit joke at the beginning was the star of this video.

[@mtgAzim]

I love your sense of humor.

[@avariceseven9443]

Green starfruit is very astringent. We usually eat them before they turn very yellow or ripe because we dislike the soft texture of ripe starfruit. We love the ones that are lighter green because they're crunchy, sweet, sour and a bit astringent. We would put them in vinegar with a bit of salt or sometimes just plain salt. We call starfruit balimbing and that one you called bilimbi is what we call kamias. I know their skin kinda look similar (and texture too) but never knew they are actually related. We use them as souring agent and for preserving certain food. My grandmother would add tons of kamias in shrimp paste.

[@rlsingle00]

Thanks, I have not tried a Star fruit yet. I plan on trying some after your review. Thanks again

[@WeirdExplorer]

enjoy!

[@lfocoap4950ajf8]

i love star fruit. i live in florida and sometimes you're walking around and you just see one on a tree. i've seen grapefruit, walnuts, bananas, and coconuts growing around too

[@wesleytownsend8214]

You are a god among men for that pronunciation joke! As if my sons and I didn’t watch this show enough already. For anyone exploring this, you should know that this (along with Smarter Every Day) can definitely be classed as the best show on KZbin. While I am just a lowly electrical engineer, my wife is an Ecology professor and a chemistry and A & P professor (also Botany and Zoology during certain semesters as the need arises). We watch this show like Jared is the messiah and might just save the world. I wish good health, happiness and all the best to you and your family!

[@jem5636]

I've very rarely had starfruit, but loved them for years. Never have I heard a better description of that very wonderful, yet unique flavor.

[@griffimania704]

Smarter Every Day supports this channel, that's pretty neat.

[@itsmeanne]

“Stair-frut”. omg LOL you are a legend. I actually LOL’d 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@stanervin6108]

Opening an 8:26 video with a 25:30 ad about some metalworking equipment is not fair. I usually sit through the ads for your revenue. Am on a fixed income and just can't afford Patreon or KZbin premium. You still get a 👍🏻.

[@derpyllama1857]

You know that they don't pick the ads right? KZbin is responsible for that.

[@stanervin6108]

@@derpyllama1857 Absolutely! But who better than the video author to advise the Great And Powerful Oz of KZbin to cease and desist with the abusive tactics? Am I right?

[@UsernamesForDummies]

I’ve only ever used these as a garnish. Where I live, they’re always green when you buy them, so I thought that’s how you eat them🤣. Always thought they were very underwhelming. Hard, tasteless and sour. You live, you learn! Thank you!

[@skyline-2818]

Can I refer to you as fruit master with my freinds?

[@WeirdExplorer]

please!

[@gamesandst8215]

He should change his name to that

[@skyline-2818]

Weird Explorer thank you

[@spicefreak4726]

@@gamesandst8215 Nah. He should just stick an MFrt on the end of his name and wait for people to ask what his degree's in.

[@AlexAnder-rv1gu]

Lol, I love your super dry humour. You started this video well, sir.

[@katiaaoox]

I always describe the flavor of carambola as if lemon and cucumber had a baby but less sour and more sweet

[@spicefreak4726]

I think of it as "What if lemon oil wasn't so cloying, greasy and artificial-tasting?".

[@kenya-jaidejohnson899]

Star fruit is really nice. I love them and they are really fun to eat. The ripe ones are really sour and sweet. Like it has this extremely sour taste that jumps at you with a sweet aftertaste. It fun but never tried it unripened. Plus it's a cut fruit. Been years thou so I may be wrong but was an important part of my childhood

[@crumbjuicetv7944]

Very good with the starfrut gag there. Approved

[@bry.5631]

Ghad this fruit is so nostalgic! I remember when I was around 10-13 years old, I used to steal these from someone's tree at the riverside near where I lived, these are the best I love to eat those by cutting them and put them on a bowl and mix it with salt! Some may not like it though and eating this on its own is still good! Also eating these with your friends is one of the best experience I had on my childhood!

[@etymos6644]

Like orange with the tannins of a dry wine mixed into the flavor. Quite an interesting fruit.

[@rideswithscissors]

When I lived in Florida I ate a lot of these. Love 'em!

[@alexanderleuchte5132]

This thing put a serious dent in my exotic fruit enthusiasm as a little kid, i begged my mom to buy one of these (exotic fruit are expensive here) because they look so cool but it tasted only sour and like soap. Interesting to hear they are potentially good. lol I guess it was unripe or a mainly decorative cultivar, putting a slice on drinks as decoration is one of the main uses here i think.

[@JayLeePoe]

i love stairsfret when they're just perfect like the notorious pears which ripen for 40 minutes when you're not looking etc eddie izzard lelelelhe'sclever

[@joshward7009]

What

[@keetrandling4530]

I'd say it has the texture of a green grape. You nailed the flavor profile, but, you always do :-)

[@Verlisify]

There were a few trees in my middle school, but it spread that they were poisonous since they looked so exotic and the kids that tried them were eating them under ripe and said it tasted like burning and poison. I never tried one because of that... thinking back it was likely pesticides

[@renakiravtuber]

I live in Singapore and we eat this so often when I was young. Its best served in a dessert setting, usually with crushed up Ice. You can google it, "Ice Kacang".

[@yin9647]

I love fruit and watching you review fruit makes me wanna travel and eat fruit.

[@keetrandling4530]

Thank you for listing the medical issues - I'd never heard either, and now I know I oughtn't have this :-( tasty tasty stairfrut! 😔

[@spicefreak4726]

I knew about the caramboxin's potential toxicity from the research that I did for a hot sauce review but the fruit's interaction with medication was unknown to me, as well. The scary part, for me, though, was that, while the toxin is easily filtered by healthy kidneys and, as far as I know, mine are healthy, I was quite likely to miss the early warning signs if it did poison me. Since caramboxin is a neurotoxin that affects certain unconscious brain functions and the usual indication that something's wrong is apparently hiccups, from loss of proper diaphragm control. Something which I tend to get from the heat, already. In that sense, I have to wonder if adding star fruit juice to hot sauce was really such a good idea but, at the same time, it was the most delicious dressing for sushi that I've ever had and I highly recommend it, as long as you know that you're safe.

[@adnanchinisi7871]

The commercial cultivar is most likely Arkin, it's productive and ships well.

[@panchonorthmann6408]

This is by far my favorite tropical fruit to eat whole. I eat it frequently when in Hawaii, but I also couldn't tell you what it tastes like. LOL

[@rprimbs]

My wife is growing a couple of starefruit. This video makes me eager to get them in the ground.

[@mikelakatos7909]

Tree ripened fruit is always the best

[@Undistortedlove]

Man is on another level. He's calculating fruit

[@mfaizsyahmi]

I like how I apparently like many of these "weird" fruits and find them very commonly...because I come from the region where this grows. The jackfruits and belimbings and rambutans and of course the King of Fruit itself the durians. Haven't had some belimbings in a while though.

[@MrHarmfulHarry]

Yay an area that I know more about than plants. That article was talking about how starfruit inhibits the cytochrome p450 enzymes like cyp3a which is mostly talking about CYP3A4. CYP3A4 ligands include a ton of drugs in the opioid, antidepressants, chemotherapeutics, antipsychotics, quite a few gabaergic anxiolytics and hypnotics, a few azole antifungals and more. These cytochrome p450 enzymes chew up and process a multitude of drugs and plant compounds. When you inhibit an enzyme, you essentially are increasing the levels of those drugs in your system indirectly, it's like getting your friend drunk and then making him try to solve a puzzle, those enzymes become less efficient as they are trying to process the starfruit compounds. It should be noted that carambola also inhibits other enzymes (even to a greater degree) like CYP2D6, CYP2A6, CYP1A2 and CYP2C9. All of these enzymes metabolize a very very large portion of all pharmaceuticals. The bergamottin in grapefruit juice also has this effect, but I'm not sure if it's quite as potent of an inhibitor. Oh, and caramboxin isn't the only thing to worry about in starfruit, I believe they also have oxalic acid I believe, they're related to Oxalis (sorrels)

[@Wodenseyes]

I'm a food scientist, and I actually attempted to study the benefits of adding one star fruit a day to my diet then testing my blood every week for a year to see if there's any difference. Tbh, it does some awesome anti inflammatory stuff, and it really does help regulate your potassium but that's literally the only changes I PERSONALLY could record. But that could be different for everyone 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@alexcarter8807]

In Hawaii where I grew up the kids call it "five-finger" because you can put your fingers (and thumb) in each groove. It's pretty good, but what I find interesting is the part in the center where the seeds are, that sort of gel around the seeds is like the ultimate "meh". It has no taste, but you just don't want to eat it.

[@torrvest]

To me star fruit is that "tropical" taste brands always want

[@GolosinasArgentinas]

Delicious fruit.

[@new_romemusic4212]

Okay but that looks absolutely delicious

[@nytrodioxide]

The one weird fruit I've had before you reviewed it! 😳

[@esquilo_atomico]

One of my favorite fruits

[@vinnythebird1611]

I eat these all the time I love star fruit

[@nightshadekelly]

I got to try star fruit at school in first grade. They had a program where we got to try tropical or fruits we don't have where we live every week. It was such a neat program for children

[@TuesdaysArt]

I had a substitute teacher who used to say "carambola" a lot...this made me think of her.

[@JTMusicbox]

Stair Frut for the win!

[@tnjeattalk]

Never heard of star fruit before😍 educational!

[@nidalshehahadeh7485]

Two varieties are known. The first, Averrhoa bilimbi, is native to Cuba. It has small, green, acidic, and sour fruit not suitable for food. However, it can be used as an aliment for bees, an anti-rust agent for cleaning metals, a stain for dyes, and a stain remover for cloth. Their fruity smell is the basis of many perfumes and colognes.

[@sonofammonite1714]

Love your channel man, your contents awesome

[@gibberishname]

you got me with "Stairfrut"

[@hatface240]

Star fruit one of my favs

[@romariocarneiro8413]

Hello!!! My name is Romario. I'm from Manaus, State of Amanzonas in Brasil. This fruit is very comon here. There in much houses. But this fruit is from one ecosystem caled Mata Atlântica. Exist two more common varieties this fruit: carambola common and carambola mel (honey carambola). I meet your channel today, but is an amazing channel!!!! Sorry for my English. I don't know very well...

[@WeirdExplorer]

Thanks Romario! I am hoping to visit the Amazonas in Brasil soon!

[@solfischer613]

We have trees of these here in kauai that are crazy packed full of starfruit.Picked the biggest one from a tree yesterday and ate it.It was probably the sweetest one i've ever eatin.

[@MrTheWaterbear]

Cool, next time I see a Starefrut, I’ll be sure to eat it no matter how ripe it looks :)

[@deemster1]

Love your vids! Always happy to see a new upload

[@justmarc2015]

I just tried one from a supermarket for the 1st time. It was really watered-down. The flavor I could taste was really good. It just needs more of everything. More sweetness, tartness, tropical fruit flavor. The texture isn't bad, either. Juicy and slightly crunchy.

[@Kavriel]

I had one, store-bought. Tasted like vaguely sugary water and nothing else.

[@omnipossum92]

I tried a star fruit for the first time today and it reminds me of a nashi.

[@sinisterthoughts2896]

You killed me with that pronunciation!

[@srslynotagrl3261]

I think KZbin has done a wonderful job at hiding your videos from me for a while but I'll be going back to watch the upload I missed. Your videos are still as great as ever.

[@nayticatellamy15110]

LOL I love that trick. I gotta apologize now, I feel bad for assuming you weren't trying hard enough at pronouncing the native names of the fruits correctly. I am sorry!! I can get pretty pretentious when it comes to my language. If you ever wanted actual help with pronunciation, I think I am pretty good at coaching pronunciation! I'm bilingual in Indonesian and English, I also speak Japanese, some Spanish and French, and I'm a 4th year linguistics student. Feel free to poke me if you ever want some help! ps: "belimbing" is supposed to be pronounced like "beuh-leem-beeng". Again, sorry for possibly hurting your feeling on my last comment a while ago! I really love your videos! Despite what sounded like a harsh comment, I've basically been binging your videos hahaha

[@fuckel98]

I grew up with starfruit being a special occasion in my family. My mother would buy it any chance she could and would surprise us with it. We always had it greenish yellow and we absolutely loved it. To this day, I get them in two packs and I eat the entire thing like you would a pickle. I have never let them ripen to the orangish brownish color, have had the patience lol I bet it would be amazing. I need to try it.

[@libslayer4280]

Really enjoy your channel. You’re a hoot.

[@katrinakollmann5265]

HA. Love your humor, friend.

[@yegdip3493]

Love the cart lol

[@AsterInDis]

Starfruit is one of my favorite exotic fruits. I have a tendency to eat them when they've just lost all their green because sometimes the brown edges on the riper ones are kinda dried out and not a fun texture. I tend to sprinkle a little bit of sugar on it if it's not ripe enough.

[@adamabele785]

In Europe you can not get them ripe. They then have a texture like apple but almost no aroma and only a bit sweet but also not sour. But I assume those are cultivars that are designed not for taste but to last longer.

[@nid2920]

my mom has a star fruit tree that she planted from seeds of a couple starfruits we got in miami it’s a year old now but by next year it should start producing fruit!!!

[@_tinman]

I love starfruit. To me it tastes like a mix between a grape and an apple

[@KianSheik]

I showed my mom your videos and she had already seen them

[@thatguygonzo6937]

Im officially calling it stair frut now, you cant stop me

[@WeirdExplorer]

please do. if one day I look at wikipedia and see that its been updated to have "stair frut" as one of the common names for it, this whole channel will be a success

[@thatguygonzo6937]

@@WeirdExplorer Omg thanks for the heart! I might just edit it to be one of the common names. Edit: nvm they got rid of it. WE MUST PERSEVERE TO MAKE IT AN OFFICIAL NAME

[@ThothFrog]

@@thatguygonzo6937 Did you give this video as a source?

[@thatguygonzo6937]

@@ThothFrog No I am bad at that kinda stuff. But I'll try it

[@CatofManyFaces]

I think i've only ever had these unripe... i think i need to try them again.

[@spicefreak4726]

So easy to do, sadly. Many imported fruit don't make it over to the UK and US in great condition and, for the star fruit, it makes a big difference.