Balimbing flavor of political season

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna – With the elections fast approaching, one word is fast regaining its popularity among Filipinos: balimbing.

Sometimes called star fruit because its cross-section resembles a star, balimbing is actually a vitamin-rich produce.

Figuratively, it means a turncoat or political butterfly, one who changes parties with the wink of an eye to advance personal interests.

The fruit balimbing is known by different names, multi-awarded development journalist Henrylito Tacio once wrote in a magazine.

In India where the fruit is native, balimbing is called kamranga. In Thailand, it’s ma fueang, khe or khe ta in Vietnam, nak fuang in Laos, spu in Cambodia, and carambola in the United States.

In his “Manual of Tropical and Subtropical Fruits” as cited by Tacio, Wilson Popenoe wrote that the Hindus and Chinese eat balimbing as a vegetable when still green and as a dessert when ripe. Slightly unripe balimbings are pickled or made into jelly.

The Chinese consume balimbing with fish while Thais boil the sliced green fruit with shrimp.

Filipinos, for their part, either use balimbing as seasoning or eat the fruit raw.

In India, balimbing’s flowers are made into preserves while in Indonesia, these are added to salads, wrote Julia Norton in her article “Fruits and Warm Climates.”

For medicinal purposes, old people and those in rural areas in some Asian countries crush its leaves or shoots as cure for ringworm and headaches. Boiled flowers are used to expel worms while the dried fruit or juice is used to treat fever.

Low in sugar, sodium, and calcium, balimbing is rich in vitamins B and C, antioxidants, potassium and iron.

But there are also health risks in eating balimbing since it contains oxalic acid, which can be harmful to people with kidney problems.

Eating the fruit may cause vomiting, mental confusion and nausea.

Meanwhile, Philippine politics is said to be full of the other kind of balimbing: the turncoats or political butterflies.

Former senator and University of the Philippines president Edgardo Angara once wrote: “Political parties are at the core of democracy. By competing in elections, influencing decision-making in government, and mobilizing citizens behind certain ideals, political parties offer meaningful choices in governance and an opportunity for political participation.”

However, this ideal is lost in the mad scramble for a seat in government by unprincipled and scheming politicians.