Half the food I cook is born out of what is in season and what’s fresh in market. The other half is from what’s in my refrigerator, the leftovers, fruits and vegetables which needed to be used yesterday! I still haven’t learnt how to buy just enough fresh produce 
. I always tend to get over exited and buy way too much… and then I also end up cooking a lot! A lot more than what my family can eat in one day. Then as I hate throwing away food, it goes into the refrigerator and then gets transformed into something new the next day! lol…
Last week my mom was in town. She brought lots fruits from our farm which included a big bag full of water apples or bell fruits. They are also known as ‘star fruit’ locally. I have spoken about this fruit in this post where I made a wonderful salad with it. My daughter and I love these tangy fruits which are in season right now. The plant we have in our parent’s garden gives us buckets full of fruits and we just distribute it to family and friends.
After eating these tangy juicy sweet water apples to our hearts content we still had lots of it left. It has been in my refrigerator for almost a week and I knew I had to use it in some way before it goes bad. What better way to use it than make a lovely fruit preserve out of it? I simply simmered it with sugar and cinnamon and I had the most delicious fruit preserve in less than 30 minutes.
To be frank I was surprised at how tasty it turned out! The tangy sweet taste of water apple was perfect for a preserve. I left it chunky but you can also use finely chopped fruit. As soon as the preserve was ready I poured it with hot juices on vanilla ice cream and served it as dessert. Let me just say it tastes heavenly! It’s almost like cherries… slightly crunchy, juicy, tangy and sweet. Serve it on toast, pancakes, waffles or oatmeal for breakfast or serve over yogurt or ice-cream for a refreshing dessert.
While I was putting together the post and working on photos I posted a teaser on FB and Twitter and asked people to guess what fruit this it! I totally enjoyed the game… some of the fruits that people suggested were, Raspberry, Cherry, Strawberry, Rhubarb, Pomegranate, Watermelon, Kokum, Guava, Karonda, Grapefruit, Ber, Red flesh Apple, Plum, Rose and even Tomato!! Finally my cousin guessed it right!
If you ever get water apple or bell fruit you know what to make!!
Ingredients
- 3-4 cups chopped water apple
- 1 cup sugar
- 1-2 inches cinnamon
Clean and cut the water apple into quarters. Place them in a thick bottomed vessel and top it with sugar and cinnamon. Heat it together in low flame stirring it occasionally. Fruit will start releasing it’s pink juices and sugar will melt. Continue to cook in medium flame until the desired consistency syrup in achieved. I left my syrup quite watery.
Cool and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Mine got over in one day!
18 comments :
Fruits Of Paradise! Cashew & Water Apples | love food eat November 16, 2012 7:14AM
[...] can read more about the fruit in one of my previous posts where I made a salad and a preserve out of it. I am planning on making some preserve with this batch. I have way too many to [...]
Carol January 29, 2012 7:06AM
My dad has a tree laden with this fruit so I tried making Wax Jambu Jelly. I substituted the Jambu fruit instead of apples in an Apple Jelly recipe and it turned out well. My family like guava jelly and this is similar but not as sweet.
ES December 17, 2011 7:09PM
The apple looks so good…. I have never seen it before! I have only seen some plums like this. How I wish I could eat them just now
bea March 11, 2013 4:56PM
But it is NOT “starfruit”–that is carambola and when you cut carabola width-wise, the pieces literally have a star shape.
Deeps @ Naughty Curry December 16, 2011 7:02AM
this fruit reminds me of jamun/jambu too… it grows wild in udupi & mangalore… very tart and yummy. only the colour is light green/yellow.. nowhere as beautiful as these pink water apple’s. oh how i wish i could lay my hands on these lovelies
Sarah Naveen December 14, 2011 1:57PM
Oh i miss this…its champanga for us , have a tree in front of my house back in kerala…
Amazing clicks…love that color ….wowie!!
Sanjeeta kk December 14, 2011 10:47AM
What a lovely color…these cute babies look so fresh and yum! Haven’t seen it before.
Divya Vikram December 14, 2011 12:12AM
Havent seen this fruit before. This looks cute though!
Kiran @ KiranTarun.com December 13, 2011 8:07PM
I love water apples — grow up eating a boat-load.. Love this recipe. Brought back some great childhood memories
Siri December 13, 2011 8:48AM
Thanks to your post, I got to know a new fruit today. I have never tasted these cute ones before. Love the pink colour they have and making them into a preserve is sure a fun way to enjoy them.
Siri
Rosa December 13, 2011 6:30AM
That fruit is intriguing. I’d love to taste it. What a pretty color.
Cheers,
Rosa
Princy December 13, 2011 4:38AM
definitely buying this when i see it next!
Soma December 13, 2011 3:52AM
I don’t even recollect ever seeing these cuties. The shape looks familiar but not the color and the taste. such vibrant colors!
anh December 12, 2011 11:34PM
One of my favourite fruits! I cant find them here much
Brooke December 12, 2011 9:10PM
All right. That’s it. I’m moving to India! So many beautiful foods!
Cara December 12, 2011 3:09PM
I have never seen a water apple, let alone ever heard of one! The color on these, however, are simply gorgeous. I will be waiting for my jar from you in the mail
haha
Nash at Plateful December 12, 2011 2:33PM
This’s also called rose apple or water rose. We call it champakka in Malayalam and my parents have this plant in their garden and I simply love to snack on the fruit. Thanks for sharing and bringing back such lovely memories!
Farwin @ Love & other Spices December 12, 2011 12:31PM
Good to see this fruit on a blog post.Back at home,we used to indulge in this fruit, called “Jambu” in our native language.Used to love this and we make chutney out of it too.