Carambola Varieties, Archives RFC Australia

From the Archives of the Rare Fruit Council of Australia
by Roger Goebel

Carambola Varieties

Scientific name: Averrhoa carambola
Family: Oxalidaceae

At the last general meeting, there was an impressive range of Carambola or five corner fruit varieties. The opportunity to start this taste comparison and description chart was taken. With help from the Highams, Fitzroy Nursery and the Kleinmeulman's, the chart has been expanded to cover 11 varieties growing in this area.

With Carambolas, it appears that they do not ripen very much after picking. It also appears that the greenish or white varieties are lower in acid and are palatable when not fully ripe, unlike the yellow types that must be picked when fully ripe.

Variety	Flavour	Sweetness	Size	Colour	Shape	Comments
Fwang Tung	Good-Fair	Fair-Sweet	Large 14x10 cm	Mostly white, green ridge	Thin wings, pointed end, uneven ridge	Low in skin blemish. Packs poorly. Wings damage - solf, large wings. Wavy ridge.
Thai Knight		Sweet	Medium 12x7	Orange, green ridge	Small wings, pointed end	Low in skin blemish. Close to Arkin and B10 (B10 is oval) (Arkin is not as sweet).
B10	Fair-Good	Fair-Sweet	Medium 12x8	Light orange	Very thick wings. Rounded blunt ends. Even oval shape.	Low in skin blemish. Some fruits taste bland. Very thick wings. Smooth skin. Close to Arkin and Thai knight.
B2	Fair-Good	Fair	Medium 12x7	Yellow orange	Even shape. slight pointed end.	Minor skin blemish. Long fruit. skin dimpled.
B16	Poor	Sour-Fair	Medium 13X7.5	Green white	Even shape. Slight pointed end.	Good appearance. Juicy.
Giant Siam	Good	Sweet	Large 14.5x7	Yellow white	Even shape. Pointed end.
Arkin	Fair-Good	Fair	Medium 12x6.5	Gold, green ridge	Even shape. Blunt end.	Packs well. Attractive gold and green colour. Bio-oval close to Thai Knight- sweeter.
B6	Fair	Poor-Fair	Medium 12x6	Yellow, green ridge	Pointed end, thick wings	Similar to B2 with crisp long fruit
Wheeler	Poor-Fair	Fair	Medium	Yellow orange of light green	Thin wings	Not juicy
Iu-Tho	Fair	Fair	Large 14x9	Wings light green, white core	Wings thin. Slight pointed end.	Close to Fwang Tung. Ridge not as wavy.
Hart	Fair-Poor	Fair	Medium 10x5.5	White, green ridge	Thin wings, blunt end	Very thin wings. Transports fair. Skin dimpled fair when green. Not juicy.
Maha	Fair-Good	Medium sweet	Small 10x6	White	Thick wings, pointed end	Granny smith apple characteristic. Acceptable flavour when not fully ripe.

Back to
Carambola Page

Bibliography

Goebel, Roger. "Carambola Varieties." Archives of the Rare Fruit Council of Australia, The Capricornia Branch R.F.C. of A. Newsletter Vol. 3 No.4., Sept. 1986, rfcarchives.org.au. Accessed 26 Apr. 2016.

Published 26 Apr. 2016 LR