Star gooseberry

Also called Otaheite gooseberry · Malay gooseberry · Tahitian gooseberryPhyllanthus acidus · Phyllanthaceae family

A crisp, sharply sour fruit made useful through pickling, sweetening and savory cooking.

very sour

1growing area
1country
55names

Get to know it

Star gooseberries are small, pale yellow fruits with a crisp, juicy bite and a sharp sourness. Their firm flesh hugs a hard stone. In southern India, they become arai nellikai oorugai, a salty, chilli-spiced pickle served with curd rice.

What it is

Star gooseberry is Phyllanthus acidus, also known as Otaheite or Malay gooseberry. Each flattened fruit has six to eight ribs and measures 1–2.5 cm (about 0.4–1 in) across. Ripe fruit is pale yellow to almost white, with a waxy surface.

A hard, ribbed stone sits tightly in the middle. To use the fruit, cooks slice the flesh from the stone, or cook the whole fruit and press it through a sieve to leave the stones behind.

Where it comes from

Star gooseberry grows in Indian home gardens and in Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, southern Vietnam, Laos and northern Malaysia. In Guam it is a familiar tree in villages and on farms, and children favour the fruit.

It travelled from Timor to Jamaica in 1793, then spread through the Caribbean, and has long grown wild in southern Mexico and the lowlands of Central America. It also grows in Hawaii, with scattered trees in Florida.

How it's eaten where it grows

In South India, arai nellikai oorugai coats the fruit in chilli, fenugreek, turmeric, salt and oil, with mustard seeds heated in the oil. Over about a week, the fruit softens and takes up the spices. It is served with curd rice. In Tamil Nadu, both tender and ripe fruit go into pickles.

In Malaysia, ripe and unripe fruit become relish, syrup and sweet preserves. In the Philippines, the juice goes into cold drinks and the fruit is also made into vinegar.

How it's grown

The shrub or small tree reaches 2–9 m (about 7–30 ft), with a dense, bushy crown. Fruit clusters form on its main branches and upper trunk. It favours hot, humid tropical lowlands and tolerates several soils, including sandy ground.

A tree grown from seed can give a substantial crop after four years. Growers can also start trees from cuttings or by grafting buds onto another plant.

When and where you'll find it

In the Philippines, the main season usually runs from April to June. South Indian trees often give two crops, usually in April–May and August–September.

Preserved fruit reaches shops in jars. The online Asian grocer Weee lists it pickled as mayom and chum ruot, its Thai and Vietnamese names. Vietnam’s Ngoc Lien bottles it as a ready-to-eat snack or dessert, best with chilli salt.

Sources · 7

Get it near Detroit

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What it tastes like

Sweeter than a lemon, as tart as a grapefruit≈

Not sweetapplebananaSweet

MildbananaappleSour

SoftbananaappleCrisp

More about the taste

Star gooseberry is firm and sour, surrounding a hard, grooved stone, and appears in relishes, pickles and sweetened preparations — salt or sugar changes the eating experience, but this isn't a naturally sweet Ribes gooseberry.

The flesh is firm and sour; it's often served fresh with salt or used to flavor cooked dishes.

Choose, ripen, eat

1ChooseChoose by use: Malaysian preparations make fresh, pickled and sweetened dishes from both ripe and unripe fruit
Choose by use: Malaysian preparations make fresh, pickled and sweetened dishes from both ripe and unripe fruit.
2RipenStorage shouldn't be expected to turn an acid cooking fruit into a sweet dessert fruit
Storage shouldn't be expected to turn an acid cooking fruit into a sweet dessert fruit.
3EatFlesh · not seeds
Eat
Flesh
Not eaten
Seeds
The edible flesh surrounds a hard stone with several seeds; the seeds aren't eaten.

Detroit, Michigan

When it’s good here

Season not documented for Michigan.

1 growing area, 1 country

New South Wales
You

Grows hereOther monthsYou

0 of 1 areas · October

In Malaysia, star gooseberry goes into relishes, syrups and sweet preserves; elsewhere it's used in drinks, vinegar, chutney and jam with other fruits.
Malaysia and other tropical cultivation regions in the reference

55 names in 17 languages

GirembellierFrench
chùm ruộtVietnamese

Cook it

Recipes 3

Strange but true

If you like Star gooseberry

Tastes alike

Close relatives

Amla

Same plant family

Bignay≈sweeter

Used the same way

Sources

Star gooseberry · Fruitopia · checked Sep 22, 2026