07 May 2011

Carambola!


This tree belongs to our neighbor and peeks at me across the fence. There is nothing spectacular about it except that anything with small colors fascinate me and there is something in pink peeking from its leaves!

There! See that cascading small bouquets of color? I have to zoom my pathetic point and shoot camera to see it better. . .


Oh, what a fantastic display of wild flowers in glorious pink perfect for Beverly's

But this wonderful burst of pink colors are not the only ones that attracted me to this tree . . .


Ahhh, my favorite star fruit balimbing (averrhoa carambola) which, if harvested in time, are thick juicy fruits I consider my vitamins. Whenever I see some balimbings around this tree I would ran back to the house and look for my sister Luchie, the certified fruit climber ;-), and point the fruits out to her. Luchie, my ever supportive sister (older sisters always indulge the youngest sibling: and that's me, LOL!) and Luchie would get a stool and climb on it and call out to our neighbor for permission to harvest some of the balimbing fruits! Of course, our neighbor has no choice but to say yes, if only to get away from noisy and nosy people. ;-)

Oh, I love this fruit PLUS it's free and freshly picked! I googled and found this site which said that balimbing "is a source of iron (low in calcium) and vitamins B and C, oxalate and potassium." BUT, and this I recently found out from this site, "may be harmful in uremic patients" who may suffer from star fruit intoxication that may even lead to death! And because of the balimbing's high potassium content it should be excluded from patients with renal failure. Well, so much for wishful thinking that eating fresh fruits is always beneficial to your health. At least I do not suffer from renal failure so I can indulge my balimbing cravings from time to time.

My dogs are also always admonished NOT to eat anything coming from any plant or any tree in Heaven. Of course they understood it to mean they can not eat but surely they can play with it? Sigh.

Also, balimbing, in my country, is not just this luscious star-shaped fruit but a term used to describe a two-faced person especially in politics where candidates switch party lines to suit their political agendas. They can say all they want against this tree but I am glad I am allowed to indulge my cravings for its fruits from time to time!

Have a healthy pink and blooming Saturday!

2 comments:

Cindy Adkins said...

Oh Lui,
How beautiful!!! Happy Pink Saturday, my friend!! I hope you have a wonderful weekend and thanks SO much for visiting!

XO
Cindy

carlota said...

great foto. love star apple. :)