Carambola Or Star Fruit, Popularly Known As "Balimbing" In The Philippines

Filipinos have long loved this fruit
because of its sweet and sour taste
and it's very juicy.

When ripe,
it turns yellowish or yellow in color
and sweet too most of the time.
But the unripe ones,
those with green flesh
has a sour taste 
that maybe too sour for some
like its close relative the "bilimbi"
known here simply as "eba".
If you can't bear the sour taste,
simply dip it in rock salt
and you'll be fine.
For fun during parties,
challenge friends to eat the unripe fruit
and see how their faces turn.
But compare carambola to bilimbi,
bilimbi is way too sour.

​You can cut it into several pieces
and mix with spices for relishes,
and can be pickled
or simply made into jams.
You can also squeeze the juice
from the ripe fruit
and blend some sugar or other fruit drinks
to create a very satisfying drink.

Even if carambola or balimbing
contains antioxidants and other elements,
 never consume too many 
because there are risks involved.
People with kidney problems
should avoid eating this fruit
because it contains caramboxin
and oxalic acid
which are found
to cause damage to the kidneys​. 

I never knew such toxins in this fruit, 
but thanks to wikipedia for the information. 
I remember during childhood, 
we used to consume so much of this fruit 
and it never caused us something 
to be alarmed about. 
Sometimes, 
we ate this on empty stomach 
and I don't remember
​having stomach aches or pains after.