Skip to content
GlobeCooks
Fruit

Bilimbi

Averrhoa bilimbiAlso called cucumber tree and tree sorrel

Bilimbi is a fruit that is crisp when raw. Cooks eat it raw, cure, pickle, or preserve it, and use it to season dishes with fish, including sardines.

  • Plant-based
  • Gluten-free
  • No listed allergens

About the plain ingredient, not packaged products; general information, not medical advice. Details

Category
Fruit
Part used
Fruit
Family
Oxalidaceae
Texture
Crisp
Cooked most in
Asia
Top country
Indonesia
Bilimbi, plant

Photo: AntanO · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

In the kitchen

How to use bilimbi

Typical ways to cook or use it

  • Cure
  • Pickle
  • Preserve
  • Raw
  • Season

Goes well with

Flavour

Taste and texture

Texture, raw

  • Crisp

Around the world

Where bilimbi is cooked

5 dishes in the catalogue use bilimbi. Here is where they come from.

Dishes by continent

Countries whose dishes use it most

Counts are catalogued dishes from each country that list bilimbi among their ingredients.

Origins

Native to
Indonesia

  1. 1793 · Jamaica

    Bilimbi was introduced to Jamaica from Timor.

On the table

Dishes made with bilimbi

5 dishes in the catalogue use it.

  • Snail satay

    Indonesia

  • Garang Asem

    Indonesia

  • Masam keueueng

    Indonesia

  • Sambal asam udueng

    Indonesia

  • Sambal ganja

    Indonesia

Dish lists come from Wikidata; a dish counts when its recorded ingredients include bilimbi.

Good to know

Diet and allergens: bilimbi in detail

These notes describe the plain ingredient. Packaged and prepared products vary, so read the label; for allergies and medical diets ask a doctor or dietitian.
Allergens
None of the 15 listed allergens foundChecked and not found: soy, eggs, fish, milk, lupin, wheat, celery, sesame, mustard, peanuts, molluscs, sulphites, tree nuts, crustaceans, gluten cereals.
Animal origin
No animal ingredients foundChecked and not found: egg, fish, meat, dairy, honey, insect, gelatin, poultry, bone char, shellfish, other animal, animal fining, animal rennet.
Gluten
None
Alcohol
None
Caffeine
None
Pork
None

Cooked together

Ingredients that go into the same catalogued dishes.
Photo credits for this page (12)

Around the world

What bilimbi is called

Names in 77 languages, from Wikidata.

  • Spanish

    Averrhoa bilimbi

  • French

    Bilimbi · Arbre à cornichons · Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Italian

    Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Portuguese

    Bilimbi · Biribiri · Limão-de-Caiena · Limão-da-Índia

  • German

    Gurkenbaum · Bilimbi · Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Dutch

    Blimbing · Blimbing woeloeh · Belimbing · Zure blimbing

  • Greek

    μπιλίμπι · αγγουρόδεντρο · Averrhoa bilimbi · αβερόη η αμβλυγώνιος

  • Turkish

    Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Russian

    Билимби · Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Polish

    Averrhoa bilimbi · Oskomian bilimbi

  • Arabic

    رشدية بليمبية

  • Persian

    بیلیمبی

Show all 77 languages

  • Achinese

    Seulimèng · Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Albanian

    Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Aragonese

    Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Assamese

    বিলম্বি টেঙা

  • Asturian

    Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Balinese

    Belimbing wuluh

  • Bangla

    বিলিম্বি · বেলেম্বু

  • Banjar

    Balimbing tunjuk

  • Basque

    Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Bikol

    Iba

  • Brazilian Portuguese

    Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Bulgarian

    Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Catalan

    bilimbi · Averrhoa bilimbi · Cogombret àcid

  • Cebuano

    Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Central Dusun

    Tulod-ulod

  • Chinese

    三敛 · 木胡瓜

  • Croatian

    Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Czech

    Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Divehi

    ބިލިމަގު

  • Egyptian Arabic

    رشديه بليمبيه

  • Esperanto

    Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Estonian

    Bilimbi

  • Extremaduran

    Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Filipino

    kamias · Kalamyas · Kamyas · Kalamias

  • Finnish

    Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Galician

    Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Gorontalo

    Lembetu'e

  • Haitian Creole

    Blenblen

  • Hungarian

    Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Ido

    Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Indonesian

    Belimbing sayur · Belimbing wuluh · Buah belimbing buluh · Belimbing besi

  • Interlingua

    Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Interlingue

    Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Irish

    Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Japanese

    ナガバノゴレンシ · ビリンビ

  • Javanese

    Blimbing wuluh

  • Komi

    Билимби · Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Komi-Permyak

    Билимби · Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Korean

    빌림비

  • Latin

    Averrhoa bilimbi

  • lbe

    Билимби · Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Madurese

    Bhlimbhing bulu · Bhing bulu · Dhing bulu

  • Malay

    Belimbing buluh · Pokok Belimbing Buluh

  • Malayalam

    ഇലുമ്പി · പുളിഞ്ചി · ഇരുമ്പൻപുളി · ഓർക്കാപുളി

  • Minangkabau

    Asam sewah

  • Norwegian Bokmål

    bilimbi

  • Occitan

    Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Pampanga

    Balimbing

  • Romanian

    Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Scots

    Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Simplified Chinese

    三敛

  • Simplified Chinese (China)

    三敛

  • Simplified Chinese (Singapore)

    三敛

  • Sinhala

    බිලිං

  • Sundanese

    Calingcing

  • Swahili

    Mbilimbi · Mbirimbi · Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Swedish

    Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Tamil

    விளி

  • Telugu

    దోసచెట్టు · బిలింబి దోశ · బిలింబి దోస

  • Thai

    ตะลิงปลิง

  • Traditional Chinese

    三斂

  • Traditional Chinese (Hong Kong SAR China)

    三斂

  • Traditional Chinese (Taiwan)

    木胡瓜

  • Tulu

    ಬಿಂಬುಳಿ

  • Udmurt

    Билимби · Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Ukrainian

    Білімбі

  • Uzbek

    Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Vietnamese

    Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Volapük

    Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Waray

    Averrhoa bilimbi

  • Western Mari

    Билимби

  • Yoruba

    Averrhoa bilimbi

Sources and credits

Data

  • GlobeCooks editorial: descriptions, kitchen notes and classification, written by GlobeCooks from checked sources
  • Wikidata: names, classification and dishes (CC0 1.0)
  • Wikimedia Commons: photos
  • Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Wikidata item: Q237465

Photos

Photo: AntanO · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons