The Pilgrim’s Pots and Pans

Camias / Bilimbi / Tree Sorrel

camias kamias Averrhoa bilimbi
Averrhoa bilimbi

Known as camias (kamias) in the Philippines and bilimbi, tÃ ling pling, belimbing assam and many other names elsewhere, it is indigenous to the Asian tropics. The fruits grow in bunches on a small tree of 5-10 m. high, are greenish yellow to light yellow when ripe, 6-9 cm. long with 3-4 flat, light brown seeds. They are succulent (very juicy indeed!) and taste tart to very sour.

However, there is another variety which has smaller, rounded and sweeter fruits which seems known only to the Philippines. I have personally seen and tasted this variety but it has been at least 15 years ago. Another one on the search list, I suppose.

camias kamias Averrhoa bilimbi The sweet camias was in my cousins’ backyard but we have always had a (common) camias tree or two at home. When we were children, we used to help with their upkeep by watering them during the summer and thinning their leaves during the rainy season (June till August) in an effort to make it bear fruit. Although bearing fruits almost the whole year round, it is during the summer when they are heavily laden. Sometimes branches would break from the weight alone.

Highly acidic, the fruits are eaten raw (sisigan) - dipped in a bit of salt and sugar, used to flavour soups and stews such as sigang, alpa and pangat, juiced and preserved as candies and jams and into a lot of other recipes sour-loving Filipinos cook.

The camias fruits are also used to remove stains from skin, brass, porcelain and cloth.

Read my blogging Ate’s post from almost two years ago.

Posted in Flora, Know Thy Food |

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 25th, 2006 at 10:47 pm and is filed under Flora, Know Thy Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Tira-Tira: Sweet Memories of Childhood«

»IMBB 24: Alamang & Camias (Make it in 30 minutes!)

28 Responses to “Camias / Bilimbi / Tree Sorrel”

Penelope says:

28 March 2006 at 12:34 am

Dyos ko!!!!!!! Kanyaman!!!!!!

This is one of my ultimate favorite ingredient!!! Growing up in San Fernando Pampanga, we have a tree behind our house. And we use it alot. Sometimes there are so many of them, my grandma would ‘barter’ with them at the palengke. Everytime I visit Philippines, I make sure I eat this raw with rock salt.
kongwi says:

28 March 2006 at 2:36 am

hi karen…

i believe we still have the kamias tree in front of the house too…there used to be 2 of them…and i also know those small roundish ones…back in grade school, they became quite a sensation among my classmates…i wonder if there’s still a tree left…would be interesting for to make them into preserves…
ces says:

28 March 2006 at 2:36 am

i remember my lola used to have a kamias tree too! asim! drool! sarap! ano ba yan!
noemi says:

28 March 2006 at 3:00 am

Naku! yan ang maliit na puno doon sa likod bahay namin. Namimitas ako niyan isinasawsaw ko sa asin o kaya’y bagoong monamon.
Karen says:

29 March 2006 at 11:13 am

Pen, hehe, muli cang pasibayu!

Yes, bartering still happens. If we have too much camias, we just give them away or send them to the marketplace suki without expecting anything in return but of course they’d always send us either some bananas, pineapple, watermelons or whatever is there. Practical, ‘no?

Koyang Wi, I’ll check next time I’m near your house. I’ll ask for seedlings in case you still have the sweet variety.

O Ces, they’re in season now! Perfect for when you arrive next week. Yay!

Naku Noemi, I have some monamon and a few bottles of prime grade heko too! Ayayay!
roger says:

30 March 2006 at 2:39 am

These look and sound great. I am a pastry chef in California and I wonder if I can find camias here. I know frozen is never as good as fresh, but maybe I could find frozen camias in San Francisco?
Toni says:

31 March 2006 at 1:20 pm

Mmmm kamias with asin!!! Sarap!
Carol says:

2 April 2006 at 12:23 am

Yes, where I grew up we also use kamias as “pansigang” and also as substitute to “manggang hilaw + bagoong”. We had a kamias tree at the back of the house. Grabe ang bunga, punung-puno pati trunk niya.
toto salvador says:

20 April 2006 at 10:39 am

..mere mention of kamias, mangaslam n ku.
hi girls!! you might want to try my newly developed whitening soap which I think far better than papaya soap because mine has camias extract.
celiaK says:

25 April 2006 at 4:35 pm

Oh wow Karen, you made me remember the days when I used to sit right at the foot of my lola’s kalamias tree and with a small mound of sea salt in hand I picked on the fruits then eat it right there and then. When my lola finally spied on me from the house she would yell “Cecilia!! Huwag mong ubusin yan! Wala na tayong gagamitin sa pinangat !!” :lemon:
MasPinaSarap says:

5 May 2006 at 4:03 am

That’s funny, because I found a pack of frozen kamias in a Philippine grocery in Queens, NY, and I know my Nanang wanted to have Sinigang sa Kamias, so I bought it, and when she made it, it didn’t come out sour at all. Perhaps this was our unique sweet type of Kamias. In which case, obviously would not make the sinigang tart. I’ll report my findings to her.
Zita says:

8 May 2006 at 8:25 pm

Yum! Salt and kamias. Back in Manila we had a kamias tree, and it yeilded heaps in summer. Nangangasim tuloy ako.
Suzette J. Garay says:

25 June 2006 at 1:17 pm

Hello,
I tried eating Kamias with salt when I was small but my fondness of Kamias was when I attended a seminar on fruits preservation with a food tech professor of UP Visayas. I like Kamias to be one of the famous pasalubong treats of every Filipino travelers. I’ll call it Phil. prunes. :tea:
hazel says:

14 September 2006 at 10:27 am

we just cut our kamias tree to make way for a house extension… we eat this with baguc and sili labuyu every summer! i’m salivating wahah
jeanjie says:

24 September 2006 at 6:14 pm

grabe…. camias is really ‘d best…..eh gnwa nameng enegy drink yan eh….para s sip namen and msaya kme kz ngz2han yon ng mga schoolm8 namen………
jeanjie says:

24 September 2006 at 6:17 pm

although nde kme nksama s congress ayos lng…bsta para sken ‘d best ang study namen @ ‘d best ang group namen….
nicole andrea says:

8 December 2006 at 8:44 pm

:frog: HELP ME NMN ABOUT SA KAMIAS SOAP SINO PO NAKAEXPERIENCE NA GAMITIN NAYAN..I NEED UR HELP PLS..
almeg 98 says:

30 July 2007 at 5:49 pm

pls send me about solar drying of kamias candy. i need ur help for my thesis. tanx a lot! god bless n more power…
MicHikO says:

7 September 2007 at 12:50 pm

waah. nhhirapan aq s rsearch nmn. (k0nek?)

g0 camias.. :cat:
asim. srap.
Angalie says:

1 October 2007 at 12:25 pm

Plzzzzzz….!!!
Help us in our research Study.
Pwede paki answer?
“Kamias fruit as Source of electricity” Is this research study proven or not?
“URGENT!!!!!!”

Tankz a lot…!!!!!! Luv yah…mwahhhhhh. hugsss!!!!!
kyrielle says:

7 January 2008 at 6:36 pm

please help me in our research..

can camias cure cough?
pwede bang gawing syurp ang kamias? how?

please, i really need the answer…

please..
celbert policarpio says:

11 June 2008 at 4:46 pm

hei!paano po iextract ang fruit ng kamias>
kasi po kailangan ko po sa research ko!
as metal polisher!
haha!help!
addyLiciOuS says:

4 September 2008 at 7:54 pm

ano pO ang prOceSs Sa paggawa ng kamiaS SoaP?? tnX!!
irene cabalda says:

8 September 2008 at 1:56 pm

i am working as a research assistant in southern luzon state university.the said university is now producing k-ganda bath soap.an organic soap from kamias.many are using it and they are promoting it.
lenlen says:

15 October 2008 at 2:34 pm

.,.nakagawa na po kami ng soap out of kamias..tnx s web mo..research ng group q d2 s la union.
Lyza says:

17 November 2008 at 2:17 pm

i have kilos and kilos of camias i harvested at our backyard and i can’t find a single recipe on kamias jam.
Lyza says:

17 November 2008 at 2:21 pm

regarding ng question on kamias as a source for electricity, alam ko you can insert electrodes, one positive, one negative (??) in the kamias ang light up a small bulb. yun ang alam ko ha..di ko lang sure. kase yung acidity ng fruit ata ang makaka ilaw sa bulb. just trying to help.
maase says:

17 November 2008 at 6:31 pm

cnu powh may alam kung panu gumawa ng sweetened kalamias??
help naman ohhh,,,,

Camias / Bilimbi / Tree Sorrel

28 Responses to “Camias / Bilimbi / Tree Sorrel”

Leave a Reply

Menu

Text Link Ads

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Google Ads

Categories

Archives

Meta