Deutsch: Eibischfrucht / Español: Fruta de Averrhoa bilimbi / Português: Fruta de caramboleira / Français: Fruit de l'arbre à étoiles / Italiano: Frutto di Averrhoa bilimbi /

Kamias is a Filipino fruit with scientific name Averrhoa bilimbi. The fruit is green and edible, about four (4) centimeters long, subcylindric with five (5) obscure, broad, rounded, longitudinal lobes. Kamias is used as common seasoning for sweets and pickling and souring agent for some traditional Filipino dish called Sinigang and Paksiw.

In English, Kamias is known as the cucumber tree or Sorrel tree. This tropical tree is found in the Philippines and other Asian countries like Malaysia and Indonesia. Kamias fruit is used both for cooking and traditional medicine. Kamias is a highly acidic fruit, it can be consumed and made into a sweet preserve or jams after certain preparations are taken.

Due to the acidic nature of Kamias fruit, it is quite sour and not often eaten raw. However, in the Philippines, some are eating it raw by dipping it in salt, some made them as dipping sauce, too. The fruit is also cut into pieces and dry and used as a souring agent for some dishes. In Costa Rica, the fruit is used as a relish.

Kamias can be used as a substitute for vinegar, used in juices like lemonade, or even combined with large amounts of sugar to make jams.

Kamias provides certain amounts of vitamins and minerals.

Kamias one of the souring agents used in the Philippines is various dishes, such as Sinigang, Paksiw and Pinangat. Kamias that grow on clusters in its tree is the fruit of tree called Averrhoa balimbi. Aside for its primary use as souring agent. The Kamias fruits can also be candied using a tedious process of removing its sour taste, though and cooked with sugar. They, can be sliced and dried under the sun to be used again as souring agent, especially in Pinangat na Isda. I also used the crushed fruits to clean the tarnish from my silver cutlery.