Name: Kamias or Kalamias
Scientific Name: Averrhoa Bilimbi
English Name: Bilimbi
Kamias or Kalamias are two tagalog terms for Bilimbi. Kamias based in history is originated in Indonesia. It is commonly found in the Philippines, Sri-Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Malaysia and other South East Asian Regions. In our backyard, we have kamias tree and I guess it is almost 10 years old already. Sometimes if the tree bears so much fruit, we tend to eat them with salt or soy sauce or fish sauce. Kamias is very sour, I can't explain it but it has a very high density of sour taste that's why you have to balance it with salty condiments.
When I was young, my mom used to make "kamias jam". I remember how she makes it, she boils kamias in water, "apog" (lime) and sugar until it caramelize or becomes thick. The jam is being preserved in a bottle and we used to make it as sandwich spread. Those were the days with my mom, oh! how I missed her so much! Back to kamias, the lime will make the jam thick and perfect to spread. The taste of kamias jelly is somewhat similar to other jams like strawberry jam.
In the Philippines, kamias leaves are used to first bathe of mothers who gave birth. The leaves are boiled in water and the cooled boiled water with kamias leaves will then be used to bathe mothers who recently gave birth and they called it "after birth tonic". Kamias is also used as recipe ingredient especially "sinigang". It substitutes tamarind, tomato and calamansi in giving sour taste to food. Kamias can be eaten raw, cooked and sun dried. Sun drying of kamias fruit is a method to preseve it. Me, I preferred to use dried kamias in cooking because I find it more tasty and delicious than the fresh ones.
Like any other fruit, kamias also has nutrional contents that gives our body so much health benefits. The moisture that kamias has keeps our skin smooth and healthy. Kamias also has protein which helps in repairing damaged tissues, providing energy and keeping the body's immune system healthy. Kamias has Calcium content that aids in keeping the teeth, hair and bones strong. It also has iron, Thiamine,
carotene, Niacin and most of all, it has a high content of ascorbic acid which helps our body fight illnesses.
Some believe that kamias can act as anti-fertility drug, I just don't know if it's true.
There are other uses of kamias. My mom used to make kamias as stain remover, she said that the acid that kamias has helps soften the stain to cloth and therefore it will be easy to remove it. Some traditional textile manufacturers use the flower of kamias as red dye. if you are interested to plant kamias, well, it's easy to grow in well drained soil. It can even be planted on sand and lime stones.
When I was young, my mom used to make "kamias jam". I remember how she makes it, she boils kamias in water, "apog" (lime) and sugar until it caramelize or becomes thick. The jam is being preserved in a bottle and we used to make it as sandwich spread. Those were the days with my mom, oh! how I missed her so much! Back to kamias, the lime will make the jam thick and perfect to spread. The taste of kamias jelly is somewhat similar to other jams like strawberry jam.
In the Philippines, kamias leaves are used to first bathe of mothers who gave birth. The leaves are boiled in water and the cooled boiled water with kamias leaves will then be used to bathe mothers who recently gave birth and they called it "after birth tonic". Kamias is also used as recipe ingredient especially "sinigang". It substitutes tamarind, tomato and calamansi in giving sour taste to food. Kamias can be eaten raw, cooked and sun dried. Sun drying of kamias fruit is a method to preseve it. Me, I preferred to use dried kamias in cooking because I find it more tasty and delicious than the fresh ones.
Like any other fruit, kamias also has nutrional contents that gives our body so much health benefits. The moisture that kamias has keeps our skin smooth and healthy. Kamias also has protein which helps in repairing damaged tissues, providing energy and keeping the body's immune system healthy. Kamias has Calcium content that aids in keeping the teeth, hair and bones strong. It also has iron, Thiamine,
carotene, Niacin and most of all, it has a high content of ascorbic acid which helps our body fight illnesses.
Some believe that kamias can act as anti-fertility drug, I just don't know if it's true.
There are other uses of kamias. My mom used to make kamias as stain remover, she said that the acid that kamias has helps soften the stain to cloth and therefore it will be easy to remove it. Some traditional textile manufacturers use the flower of kamias as red dye. if you are interested to plant kamias, well, it's easy to grow in well drained soil. It can even be planted on sand and lime stones.
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