What's The Best Tasting Carambola?

[jabomano]

I've never eaten a really 'wow!' tasting star fruit but I'd like to grow one just because I'll have fruit in February. What's the best tasting variety to grow?

Ray
www.raybayer.com

[TropicalFruitHunters]

Bell has been my favorite so far.  Not too impressed with it's fruiting ability as a lone tree.

[lycheeluva]

Harry has a possum trot variety that is  not wow, but for winter fruit, aint half bad

[natsgarden123]

Bell is by far the best 9 at least what I had)-I tasted a number of them at Excalibur.  Here the Bell is  extremely prolific-fruits all year and heavily.

[RodneyS]

Is Bell a sweet variety?  I've heard good things about Kari & Sri Kembangan

[adiel]

Fwang Tung is another sweet variety.  I have not tried the Bell so I cannot compare how it does against that one.

Adiel

[murahilin]

Bell is usually my favorite but recently I had one of Jeff's Kari's and it was pretty good. Better than the bell's I've had this year but bell is still my fav.

[Sleepdoc]

I've only tried a couple of varieties.  I remember Bell as being quite good, and the Kari I have is tasty and pretty sweet for a Carambola.  My Kari is crazy productive.

[bsbullie]

I have never been a fan of carambola until recently.  I have been picking the fruit at maximum ripeness stage, from Excalibur's trees, and have found the following:

Bell - moderately sweet to sweet, least favorite, had a bit of astringency though by cutting off the skin that dimished
Kari - very sweet, tropical citrus flaors, strong/intense flavor (for a carambola)
Sri Kembanqan - very sweet, tropical citrus flaors, strong/intense flavor (for a carambola)
Hart - sweet with a different spectrum of flavors, not as intense flavored as Kari and  Sri Kembanqan

As I stated above, these were all picked with full ripe color, very little to no green color left.  When picked like this they must be eaten fairly quickly but it was well worth it.  At this ripeness stage, they would be excellent chilled and put through a juicer.

[natsgarden123]

Never tried the Hart-Ill have to taste it.   
PS I wont plant a Carambola- way too much fruit and we were overwhelmed-I would rather use the spot to plant something else.   Just my humble opinion...

[FlyingFoxFruits]

Fwang Tung!!!

I love these, like a sweet green apple!

[bsbullie]

Fwang Tung!!!

I love these, like a sweet green apple!

I have never tasted a Fwang Tung that tasted anything remotely like a green apple, sweet or tart...my very least favorite out of all I have tasted.

[sultry_jasmine_nights]

I have fruit on my Kari now. It tastes sweet but is sweetest when very ripe. I havent tried any others except the supermarket ones and they dont seem as sweet.

[Squam256]

Bell is probably my favorite followed closely by Kari.

[FlyingFoxFruits]

Fwang Tung!!!

I love these, like a sweet green apple!

I have never tasted a Fwang Tung that tasted anything remotely like a green apple, sweet or tart...my very least favorite out of all I have tasted.

Different stroke for different folks!

Do you listen to Walyon Jennings (i can't help but like him)?  Seems like we have much different tastes, and you are quick to point out this phenomenon...which i think is important, because peoples enjoyment factor of any given fruit, is very subjective...same with the music of N.W. A. , and Boy George.

So opinions are like sphincters everyone has quite a few (even more than just one, pyloric, pupillary, ileocecal, etc...)

LOL

[RodneyS]

Fwang Tung!!!

I love these, like a sweet green apple!

I have never tasted a Fwang Tung that tasted anything remotely like a green apple, sweet or tart...my very least favorite out of all I have tasted.

Different stroke for different folks!

Do you listen to Walyon Jennings (i can't help but like him)?  Seems like we have much different tastes, and you are quick to point out this phenomenon...which i think is important, because peoples enjoyment factor of any given fruit, is very subjective...same with the music of N.W. A. , and Boy George.

So opinions are like sphincters everyone has quite a few (even more than just one, pyloric, pupillary, ileocecal, etc...)

LOL

Wow, from NWA to Boy George & Culture Club.  That's quite a broad spectrum there. 

[fruitlovers]

My favorite starfruit (carmbola--sorry but i think local name of starfruit is much better) is a seedling tree. I have 3 cultivars and 3 seedling trees. My favorite cultivar is Kari, with Sri Kembangan second. But honestly i can't say i taste a whole lot of difference between one and the other. In a blind taste test i probably couldn't tell any of them apart! I was pretty dumb to plant so many as when they fruit we are up to our armpits in starfruits. We juice them and also dry some, and barter with others. But still tons go to waste under the trees. This fruit is the zucchini of the fruit world! I alredy chopped one of the trees down, but still have 5 trees = many hundred (thousands?) of pounds of fruits! Maybe i should figure out how to make biodiesel from them? Could drive all the way around the island many times!
Oscar