Tamarind

Native to tropical Africa and Madagascar, the tamarind tree was known to the ancient Egyptians, and taken to India so long ago even botanists thought it was native there. From India it was introduced to Persia and the Arab world, thus Arabic "tamar hindi" (Indian date). It is now planted throughout the tropics and sub-tropics including Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and southern Florida.

This hardwood tree can grow to around 70 feet but is in fact a legume, related to the common green bean and pea. The sweet/sour fruit pulp surrounding the seeds within the thin brittle shell are the part most used, but leaf shoots and flowers are also used. Tamarind fruit pulp is an important flavoring for food and beverages worldwide.and is an important ingredient in Worcestershire sauce, HP Sauce (UK and Canada) and Jamaican Pickapeppa sauce.

Tamarind pulp is widely sold in several forms, as illustrated in the photo above:

• Whole Pods:   These are found piled in bins (mostly broken) in markets serving Hispanic communities, and carefully packed in windowed gift boxes for sale in Asian communities. This is the least convenient form as you must pick off the fragile shell before using. Otherwise prepare the same as for the block form but use a bit more to compensate for the seeds.
• Pressed Block:   This is the most common form - pulp with the shell and most of the seeds removed. Thailand is the most common exporter but also India and other tropical countries.
• Concentrate (Regular Paste):   Widely available and the most convenient form - you need only spoon it out of a jar. A tablespoon of this paste is roughly equivalent to 1-1/2 tablespoon of block after it is soaked and straining as described below. Thailand exports a number of brands, often labeled in incomprehensible Thai script and in Vietnamese as Nuöc Me Chua. They vary in quality (some have tiny bits of shell in them but this doesn't seem to bother most recipes). Some brands are "Product of U.S.A.", but read the label - some contain an uncertain amount of "High Fructose Corn Syrup".
• Concentrate (Black):   This seems to comes only from India. The most common brand in the US is Tamicon, but there are others. It is highly concentrated and clearly has been cooked down, giving it a bit of a molasses flavor. You'd need to dilute it with 2 parts water to 1 part concentrate to get it about where the regular paste is, but the flavor will still be different.

Measures   Most Indian recipes call for pulp from blocks. Measures are usually by volume, sometimes tablespoons, but more often "the size of a golf ball", "the size of a lime" or "the size of a Gooseberry. Caution: limes in India (and most of the world) are what we call "Key Limes" here in North America. They are much smaller than our common Persian / Tahitian limes, and Indian Gooseberries are much larger than what we call a gooseberry in North America.

• Lime:   Key Lime size, about 1.4 inches diameter, 1-1/8 ounce (32 grams) and fill 1-1/2 Tablespoons (International tablespoons, not Australian).

• Lemon:   Lemons like our big yellow ones are not native to India, where the words "lemon" and "lime" are used interchangeably. What botanical lemons they do have are mostly small and green. I have not been able to find an exact size, but lets go with around 1-1/2 inches, 1-1/3 ounces (38 grams) and 2 Tablespoons.

• Gooseberry:   Indian gooseberries get up to about 2 inches diameter, but average about 1-5/8 inches diameter, which would be 1-3/4 ounces (50gms), which would be just over 2-3/4 Tablespoons.

• Golf Ball:   This size would be 1.7 inches diameter, weigh 2 ounces (57 grams) and fill 3 Tablespoons.

Using Block Form

Is block better than concentrate? Yes, noticeably more tart and flavorful, nearly identical to fresh pods but easier to use because you don't have to pick off the shell and deal with the seeds. The result is much thinner than concentrate, but remarkably strong.

1. Lime size:   Take 1 ounce (30 grams, 1-1/2 Tablespoon), chop coarsely and place in a 1 cup measuring cup. Fill with almost boiling water to 2/3 cup. Let soak for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. It is ready when all the sticky black paste is dissolved leaving the white seed surround and fibers. Golf Ball size:   Take 1-7/8 ounces (55 grams 2-7/8 Tablespoons) and do as above but fill to a full 1 cup.
2. Strain, preferably through a nylon strainer due to the acidity, pushing the pulp around and pressing with a wooden spoon. Be sure to scrape the outside of the strainer as much paste will adhere there.
3. Lime size will yield about 1/2 cup - the equivalent to about 5 tablespoons of regular concentrate. Golf ball size will yield about 3/4 cup, equivalent to about 7-1/2 tablespoons of concentrate.
4. Refrigerate what you don't use right away - it'll keep a week or so.

Young Pods:

Immature pods are used in India to flavor rice. In the Bahamas green pods are roasted in ashes until they burst, then are dipped in the ashes and eaten. Immature pods are not much available in North America because the trees are unlikely to fruit here except at the southern tip of Florida. Mexico grows plenty, but does not ship immature ones north of the border.

The photo specimens were purchased frozen from a Philippine market in Los Angeles, labeled Green Tamarind Fruit. These were fairly mature, the shells already nearly brittle, but the flesh was green and seeds quite soft. The flesh was quite tart, with a sweet-tart balance similar to lemon. The seeds could be easily chewed, but you don't want to do that. They were very bitter and astringent. The best way to peel these is right out of the freezer compartment. Leave them in a bowl of hot water for about 1 minute so the shell is softened but the flesh is still firmly frozen. Thawed, the flesh can be eaten after pulling the fibers out by the stem, or it can be squeezed for juice.

Leaves

Seeds

In the growing regions Tamarind seeds are roasted and eaten as a snack, as well as being ground to flour for use as a thickener. Despite being very nutritious with plenty of antioxidants and such, they currently have little use outside the growing regions. A process is being developed to use them to produce a substance similar to, but said to be superior to, fruit pectin for making jams and jellies.

As harvested from the dried pods sold here in North America, the seeds are extremely hard and can withstand even a sharp hit with a tack hammer. After roasting on a cast iron comal at 500°F/260°C the outer shells are brittle enough to crack with a tack hammer and pry off. The kernels are still very hard. In the growing regions, children eat the roasted seeds like very hard candy, working on them for a while. They can eat fresh seeds from ripening pods more easily but those need to be roasted too as they are bitter and astringent raw. Roasted, the flavor is similar but not identical to roasted peanuts. I have seen them listed in an "alternate" recipe for Nigerian Banga Soup Spice (a recipe calling for ingredients you can actually get).

Flowers:

Non Culinary Uses