Star fruit: a unique tropical fruit popular in Sanya and Hainan

Sanya is blessed with plentiful sunshine and rich soil, which helps to create a vast array of succulent and healthy tropical fruits that possess amazing flavors, textures, and aromas.

The star fruit or carambola is a unique tropical fruit that can be found at local grocery store or market in Sanya.

This tropical fruit is readily available in Sanya and Hainan throughout the year.

This fruit acquired its name from the five pointed star shape – when cut across the middle (occasionally four or six ribbed fruit may occur). The three to five inch long fruit has a paper-thin, translucent, waxy, yellow-orange to green skin with tart crisp flesh.

Star fruit range in taste from pleasantly tart and sour to slightly sweet with a complicated flavor combination that includes plums, pineapples, and lemons.

The flesh is juicy and crunchy, and may be eaten skin, seeds and all or used as a garnish, in salads and in relishes and preserves.

When used in cooking, green fruit are frequently used for their sourness. The juicy flesh is mostly water and does not hold up well when heated.