Kamias fruit is sour. In the Philippines, dipping it in salt and eating it raw as a snack is not uncommon. My husband does it. But my taste buds are not that brave. I don’t eat it raw and especially not by itself. But I like to use kamias for cooking.
We have a kamias tree and it’s heavy with fruit. I’ve used kamias to cook sinigang before but the amount of fruit we saw on the tree was way too much to cook a pot of sour soup for one meal. I did a little reading and discovered that it can be enjoyed in so many ways. Among others, it can be added to salads, pickled or cooked into a sweet-sour jam.
Is Averrhoa bilimbi (kamias) native to the Philippines?
No, it isn’t. The common belief is that it originated in West Malaysia and the Indonesian Moluccas. However, its culativation has spread throughout Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central and South America, and the Caribbean.
Bilimbi tree, flowers and fruit
It’s classified as a small tree that grows up to 15 meters (if you think that’s not small, consider that a sequoia tree can grow to 116 meters in height). The purplish flowers (some are visible in the topmost photo if you’ve got a sharp eye) which become fruits grow on the trunk.
The fruit is elongated (the average lenth is about three inches). It’s a deep green when unripe but turns yellow green as the fruit ripens. The thin skin is smooth to subtly bumpy and feels waxy on the fingers.
Bilimbi fruit as food
If you’re one of those brave souls with a penchant for highly acidic food, try dipping the fruit in salt and eating it as a snack. If not, draw inspiration from the following recipes that I found on the web.
- Bilimbi masala
- Bilimbi pickle and vinegar
- Bilimbi juice
- Fish head sour curry with bilimbi
- Bilimbi chutney
And, on the homefront, I just updated my slow cooker oxtail sinigang recipe using bilimbi harvested from the tree in the garden.
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