Author Topic: Carambola Juice  (Read 2877 times)

johnb51

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Carambola Juice
« on: November 17, 2019, 06:32:57 PM »
Yesterday I was trimming my starfruit tree (Sri Kembangan) while the second crop is still hanging on the tree.  So many fruit fell to the ground, and I picked a lot as well.  So I decided to run them through the Champion juicer.  I'm surprised how sweet the juice is.  The flavor is not powerful, but mixed with fresh apple cider from Aldi the juice combination is delicious and very refreshing.  A very large mixing bowl of cut-up fruit produced more than a half gallon of juice.
John

gnappi

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Re: Carambola Juice
« Reply #1 on: November 17, 2019, 08:24:26 PM »
Its an underappreciared fruit. I make a carambola curry chicken as well as juice and bring frest druit to friends. Everyone who tastes carambola is generally for the first time and they love it.
Regards,

   Gary

EnglewoodFlorida

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Re: Carambola Juice
« Reply #2 on: November 17, 2019, 08:30:08 PM »
Also did it once when I had more than I could eat, very tasty indeed.. will try a combo mix next time good idea.

joeventra1

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Re: Carambola Juice
« Reply #3 on: November 17, 2019, 08:59:43 PM »
how do you find that variety eaten out of hand? I have the same one and is just starting to flowering. Seems many have mixed opinions on star fruit in general though.

johnb51

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Re: Carambola Juice
« Reply #4 on: November 17, 2019, 10:29:17 PM »
how do you find that variety eaten out of hand? I have the same one and is just starting to flowering. Seems many have mixed opinions on star fruit in general though.
I've been very satiisfied with Sri Kembangan.  The fruit can get large, has a nice orange color, is very juicy, and the flavor is good.  Starfruit in general is not strongly flavored, like "OMG this is delicious!," but it's pleasant.  It's great in a fruit salad and probably has more culinary uses than I've tried.  SK bears heavily.  Also, it's not a fussy tree and will grow in marginal spaces, like mine at the side of the house.
« Last Edit: November 17, 2019, 10:33:21 PM by johnb51 »
John

shpaz

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Re: Carambola Juice
« Reply #5 on: November 17, 2019, 11:07:09 PM »
Just be careful of consuming large amounts of star fruit juice as it may induce chronic kidney disease even in healthy individuals.

Studies:

Acute kidney injury associated with ingestion of star fruit [2016]:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5131384/

Star fruit toxicity: a cause of both acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease [2015]:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4683968/

The star fruit as a cause of acute kidney injury [2017]:
https://www.revistanefrologia.com/en-the-star-fruit-as-cause-articulo-S2013251417300779


Again, frequent consumption of large amounts, often on empty stomach, may cause these issues.
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sahai1

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Re: Carambola Juice
« Reply #6 on: November 18, 2019, 01:10:12 AM »
In this one I think is a great study, and I was shocked, until... correct me if I'm wrong the type of juice given to the subjects was not specified.

Shortly after a graph showed that juice from unripe fruits (sour juice) contained 820 mg/100 ml of oxalate, compared to ripe fruit juice around 40 mg avg.. so 950% increase in oxalate in unripe?

Still interesting, but still not entirely clear, but this study definitely has scared me and will be concerned with any food containing oxalate.

btw other two studies were looking at people already experiencing kidney problems, so those are suspect.

Perhaps in summary, people with diabetes should avoid green starfruit, and also the fact that starfruit is picked and sold green is not helping.

fruitlovers

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Re: Carambola Juice
« Reply #7 on: November 19, 2019, 01:12:53 AM »
Starfruit (carambola) juice is great mixed with orange juice mixed 50-50. Or even on its own it's very nice. I've drank huge quantities with zero issues. But the fruits must be totally ripe. Make sure to trim any fins or parts that are green. The green parts are the ones with the oxalates. And yes most of the fruit sold is green and therefore not ripe. Probably that is what used in the studies.
Oscar

pineislander

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Re: Carambola Juice
« Reply #8 on: November 19, 2019, 08:15:18 AM »
If you read those studies the cases usually involve people with prior health complications, who were fasting, or took the juice in an unusual context.
Turmeric and Cinnamon both contain more oxylate than ripe sweet starfruit, and spinach, beets and chard are very close.
Vegetarians/vegans ingest far more oxylates than meat eaters just because most veg contains it.
Even if oxylate is present in a substance, some of the oxylate can be soluble and some insoluble, for instance the oxylate in turmeric is almost all soluble and available for uptake, levels in cinnamon are only 6% soluble.
Calcium in the diet tends to bind to oxylates making them less soluble, so using high oxylate foods in a low calcium diet means that more soluble oxylate will be present.
In the gut, Oxalobacter formigenes, a common part of the internal microbiome breaks down oxylate, but the presence of that bacteria varies in individuals and may be totally absent  after antibiotic use or during certain disease states.

I read a few publications on oxylate in general and found this one directed at vegans to have some good information.

https://veganhealth.org/oxalate/#vegetarian
 

sahai1

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Re: Carambola Juice
« Reply #9 on: November 19, 2019, 03:19:22 PM »
best source of knowledge about this would be from the communities who drink 'sour' starfruit juice.  I'm sure they have several generations of common sense knowledge about how much to drink and who should avoid.

Just like in Thailand they recommend people to avoid Durian if you suffer from hypertension or to pair with mangosteen to help offset... but in Western science there is no evidence to support any of this.

gnappi

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Re: Carambola Juice
« Reply #10 on: November 21, 2019, 08:33:15 AM »
I also read that the green "tips of the star" contain the majority of the oxalates and removing them and eating the ripe part presents little if any  danger.
Regards,

   Gary

zands

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Re: Carambola Juice
« Reply #11 on: November 21, 2019, 08:43:34 AM »
Yesterday I was trimming my starfruit tree (Sri Kembangan) while the second crop is still hanging on the tree.  So many fruit fell to the ground, and I picked a lot as well.  So I decided to run them through the Champion juicer.  I'm surprised how sweet the juice is.  The flavor is not powerful, but mixed with fresh apple cider from Aldi the juice combination is delicious and very refreshing.  A very large mixing bowl of cut-up fruit produced more than a half gallon of juice.

Apple cider at Aldi is $3.50 per gallon brought all the way from the north (might be from Michigan and NE New England Massachusetts area) to amazingly green and flooded with God's rain South Florida. Respect is due to all apple farmers and orchardists.
« Last Edit: November 21, 2019, 08:45:28 AM by zands »

zands

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Re: Carambola Juice
« Reply #12 on: November 21, 2019, 08:48:36 AM »
I also read that the green "tips of the star" contain the majority of the oxalates and removing them and eating the ripe part presents little if any  danger.

This is true. Cut off the green oxilates. What else is new?

gnappi

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Re: Carambola Juice
« Reply #13 on: November 21, 2019, 03:24:15 PM »
I also read that the green "tips of the star" contain the majority of the oxalates and removing them and eating the ripe part presents little if any  danger.

This is true. Cut off the green oxilates. What else is new?

It clearly is new to others who keep bringing it up :-)

Regards,

   Gary

fruitlovers

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Re: Carambola Juice
« Reply #14 on: November 21, 2019, 05:26:48 PM »
I also read that the green "tips of the star" contain the majority of the oxalates and removing them and eating the ripe part presents little if any  danger.
Green tips, and also any green fin edges should be sliced off. Unfortunately often totally green fruits are sold in stores. Those you can just trash.
Oscar

zands

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Re: Carambola Juice
« Reply #15 on: November 21, 2019, 06:00:32 PM »
I also read that the green "tips of the star" contain the majority of the oxalates and removing them and eating the ripe part presents little if any  danger.
Green tips, and also any green fin edges should be sliced off. Unfortunately often totally green fruits are sold in stores. Those you can just trash.

And amazingly enough it was you over in Hawaii who first made me aware to cut off the green laden oxilates. You who have all kinds of 5 Carambola trees dripping with and dropping fruits.

When I sight carmabola in a grocery they are green all over.  The best ones on my trees are left to get  very very yellow and getting into the over ripe range where the oxilates evaporate.


Cheers!
« Last Edit: November 21, 2019, 06:07:05 PM by zands »

fruitlovers

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Re: Carambola Juice
« Reply #16 on: November 23, 2019, 04:47:07 PM »
I also read that the green "tips of the star" contain the majority of the oxalates and removing them and eating the ripe part presents little if any  danger.
Green tips, and also any green fin edges should be sliced off. Unfortunately often totally green fruits are sold in stores. Those you can just trash.

And amazingly enough it was you over in Hawaii who first made me aware to cut off the green laden oxilates. You who have all kinds of 5 Carambola trees dripping with and dropping fruits.

When I sight carmabola in a grocery they are green all over.  The best ones on my trees are left to get  very very yellow and getting into the over ripe range where the oxilates evaporate.


Cheers!
It's one of those fruits that if you want good quality then you have to grow it yourself. Yes the only "problem" with this tree is that it fruits too much. During season here can't hardly give them away.
Oscar

TNAndy

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Re: Carambola Juice
« Reply #17 on: November 23, 2019, 04:48:31 PM »
The problem with oxalate is it tends to occur as oxalic acid in the plants.  Oxalic acid, like most organic acids, is readily soluble.  Once in the body, the acid tends to be neutralized with a base to form the oxalate (technically it's a salt--but obviously not table salt which is sodium chloride).  Most oxalates have a relatively low solubility.  Your kidneys naturally concentrate salts in urine.  High concentrations of low solubility salts tend to crystallize a portion of the solute out of the solution.  If you've ever made rock candy, you've seen this phenomenon firsthand.

The answer is, if you eat foods high in oxalic acid, be sure to drink plenty of fluids so the resulting oxalates don't have a chance to form kidney stones.  Staying well hydrated is a good idea for most healthy people anyway.

sahai1

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Re: Carambola Juice
« Reply #18 on: November 23, 2019, 06:11:15 PM »
kidney stones may be one thing, but I think one of the articles was showing necrosis of the kidney


johnb51

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Re: Carambola Juice
« Reply #19 on: November 23, 2019, 07:01:33 PM »
I used some green fruit this time, but I diluted it with other juice (apple).  In the future I will never use green fruit.  But it sure is a good way to utilize a bumper crop of starfruit!
John

sahai1

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Re: Carambola Juice
« Reply #20 on: November 23, 2019, 08:37:23 PM »
perhaps commercial fruit growers could heat it at low temperatures adding sugar and water or some other chemical process and convert the oxalate to something else?

fruitlovers

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Re: Carambola Juice
« Reply #21 on: November 24, 2019, 01:36:02 AM »
kidney stones may be one thing, but I think one of the articles was showing necrosis of the kidney
Folks with kidney problems should not eat starfruit. But then again they should not eat spinach, rhubarb, or anything else with oxalyc acid in it.
Oscar

Anolis

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Re: Carambola Juice
« Reply #22 on: November 27, 2019, 05:29:34 PM »
Here’s a video regarding toxicity. https://youtu.be/4kvGK1qqPMU

I was so excited about growing this fruit...not so much anymore 😵

gnappi

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Re: Carambola Juice
« Reply #23 on: November 27, 2019, 06:13:16 PM »
Here’s a video regarding toxicity. https://youtu.be/4kvGK1qqPMU

I was so excited about growing this fruit...not so much anymore 😵

Left to ripen on the tree its a wonderfully refreshing fruit served cold as a juice or out of hand. There's no reason to be put off by this thread.
Regards,

   Gary

pineislander

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Re: Carambola Juice
« Reply #24 on: November 28, 2019, 09:14:57 PM »
Left to ripen on the tree its a wonderfully refreshing fruit served cold as a juice or out of hand. There's no reason to be put off by this thread.
Agree totally. Many fruits vegetables and herbs are dangerous if not consumed properly or if a person has an abnormal health condition. Star fruit is one of them, cassava another, and Akee another. The list could go on and everyone needs to have education about what they might eat. The video is unnecessarily alarmist for normal people, and the man giving the advice has been known to sensationalize issues like declaring Mad Cow Disease "The Plague of the 21st century".