Starfruit

While meandering through Whole Foods last week, I saw they had a few starfruit in the produce section. And since I try to make an effort to buy a variety of things whenever I grocery shop, I grabbed one. I hadn’t eaten one since I was a kid!

Starfruit was originally grown on trees that are native to parts of Asia, and is now grown in many different places, including Hawaii and Florida. When choosing a starfruit, look for one that is yellow with some lighter green on it. The five edges should be a little brown, and the fruit should be fairly firm with no soft spots. If there are brown spots, the fruit may be overripe.

To eat, just wash it well (especially since for most of us it probably won’t be locally grown), chop off the stem end so you have a flat surface. Then, carefully slice off each of the five edges of the fruit, which will be a little bit browned (I did this step last, because I began slicing faster than Ed could google "how to cut a starfruit"). After that, you can just slice the fruit into pieces and eat! The skin of the starfruit is meant to be eaten.

Nutrients in starfruit include vitamin C, fiber and lots of antioxidants. It is lower in sugar than some other fruits, so could be beneficial for someone watching their sugar intake. An entire starfruit contains only 30 calories.

Really, they aren’t any type of superfood but they taste really fresh and I think they’d be a pretty garnish for a salad or a dessert. We happened to have ours for breakfast. Kids will love starfruit purely because of its fun shape!