Best season to travel to Zanzibar

Carambola (Birimbi, Star Fruit)

When you cut across it, this fruit looks like a 5-pointed star

Best time: April–June | October–December

Carambola (Birimbi, Star Fruit)
Carambola (Birimbi, Star Fruit)
Carambola (Birimbi, Star Fruit)

Carambola is one of the more exciting exotic fruits. They grow on evergreen trees and have an oval shape from 6 to 13 cm long. When you cut across it, the fruit looks like a 5-pointed star. Therefore this amazing fruit has a different name - star fruit. In Zanzibar locals call it Birimbi. The cultivars that grow here are very sweet and juicy with a yellow (sometimes green) waxy edible peel (the seeds are edible too). By the way, the ripe fruit is a good source of vitamins (A,C), phosphorus, and potassium. In the Zanzibar archipelago "star fruit" trees bloom year round, but only have fruit twice a year—from April to June and from October to December.

Last updated: by Eleonora Provozin