Lon and I both think Tamarind is just awesome. It’s a super unique fruit that tastes like a blend of dried fruits, but it’s not dried or processed in any way. That’s how it arrives to us, straight from mother nature. There are two kinds, Sweet Tamarind and Sour Tamarind. Both are sweet and tangy, but one is more sweet than tart and one is more tart than sweet. (We learned about the sour kind the hard way.)
If you haven’t had fresh Tamarind, it can seem a bit weird. The shell is dry and brittle, easily broken.
Once you remove all the shell, you have to pull off the veins. They look and feel a bit like roots.
Beneath the flesh of the fruit are seeds. Be careful not to eat those, but you can either suck the paste-like sticky fruit off, or you can pull it off with your fingers.
I sometimes snack on it, on its own, but Tamarind is used widely in Indian and South East Asian cuisine as well. When you need a larger amount of Tamarind paste, shell and remove veins on Tamarind. Place the meat in a broad bottom bowl and cover with warm tap water. Let it sit for an hour. Strain and discard the water. Seed by seed, rub the tamarind seeds against the mesh of a mesh strainer, pushing the pulp through the strainer. When the seed is shiny and clean of pulp, discard the seed.
Recipes with Tamarind coming soon!
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tamarind is so cool!
I’ve always wondered if you could eat Tamirind Straight! For some reason I didn’t think you could…maybe some one had eaten the sour one and mentioned that it was better in recipes. Any way, than you for demystifing the Tamirind for me!!
We made this Thai inspired vinaigrette and just thought ‘Hmmm tamarind juice would be nice to add to this’, but we had none. In fact, we didn’t even know the tamarind was a fruit like this! We thought it was just this random extract that you can find in a bottle. Anyways, thanks for the education!
That’s my favorite snack food, (when it’s sweet of course).
I always thought the tamarin flavor came from grinding up those squirrel-like monkeys from South America. Weird. Seriously, where did you buy yours, it looks great. When I’ve gotten it, it hasn’t looked nearly as fresh.
I have never seen that!
I love tamarind in fish & meat dishes!
Thanks for this useful info!
Bill, this batch was from a Chinese supermarket somewhere near Cranberry, NJ, but I’ve had good tasting ones from Whole Foods.
These look so yummy! We used to eat the raw green ones with the skin intact when I was a kid. They aren’t as sweet as the mature ones, but every bit as delicious!
tamarind is really nice to use in SE asian curries when you want something sour yet sweet; nice with darker curries.
the last time I processed raw tamarind I was going gangster with a beef satay recipe and wanted to use all authentic ingredients like the tamarind, raw cane sugar, etc., and the processing of the tamarind made my hands all sting-y; it was a pain but totally worth it.
I think most of the cooking is done with the sour tamarind where it is used like lemon juice
C
Thanks for this pictorial education on tamarind. Stumbled upon it when I looked up tamarind. Exactly what I wanted to know.
Thanks for this wonderful description. I have a tamarind tree in my yard, but I wasn’t sure what the ripe fruit was supposed to look like, or what to do with it when it became ripe.
Thanks!
Bart, I wish I had a tamarind tree!
a good description to eat the fruit which everyone like for its sour taste
Thanks for the info! I found it at Winco in their “odd produce” section with no sign, no price, but it looked interesting so I grabbed a couple–the staff didn’t even know what it was so I got it free at check-out! Glad to know what to do with it! (any idea how much it should cost, though?)
Dena, I’ve never been to a Winco but I love that they have an “odd produce” section!! Tamarind is not very expensive. We got a bag (roughly 1 gallon size) for about $3 at an Indian/Pakistani store. At Whole Foods, the same amount sells for about $5 or $6.
Got my first taste of tamarind as a candy while visiting Jamaica for my daughter’s wedding. It was a very interesting treat. Thanks for the info. Felicia
Felicia, your daughter must have had a killer wedding. I hope I have an excuse to go to Jamaica soon. Thanks for stopping by!
Been eating/drinking tamarind fruit/iterations for years. As far as I know it has always been the sour variety but I love it.
It is one of my favorite fruits and I always buy it super cheap in Mexico. I usually find good quality at Latino/Mexican stores.
When I go to the Mexican interior, I am in heaven with all the tamarind trees and avocados falling off the trees–so many they aren’t even consumed, while I pay a fortune in the US…
Anoj, I hope I get to eat them right off trees one day. Got any great tamarind recipes you want to share?
thanks for the great insight. using food and spices can be baffling the first time. I did not know how to prepare the tamarind and was tempted to obtain the paste but could only find the fresh pods. exploring with food can be fun. cracking the outer shell off was easy and I did not expect such a gummy texture. soaking it in water to express the juice out of it became simple with your instruction. 🙂
It grows in Arabia in Oman – and its name is the Arabic for ‘the Indian Date’. The Omani variety has small pods – it is often planted in villages as a shade tree and of course small boys love getting the fruit
I’ve known about tamarind for a long time but never had an opportunity to become familiar with it until I came across a barbque sauce recipe that called for tamarind. The flavor is quite interesting and reminds me of a cross between orange and plum. It is very good. So thank you for the review on this fruit.
I am used to the sour tamarind, which is in abundance in the lowlands in Eritrea. We used to eat this fruit often and we used it also in sauce. During my vacation in Keren in Eritrea, I fill up my pockets with this fruit and walk the streets while sucking the fruits. I was surprised to find this fruit tasted somewhat sweet when I found them in Europe. It is believed that this fruit has some good medicinal effect on our health. But I have to ask for details of these in my next vacation or maybe you already have some idea about this. Thanks for reminding me of this wonderful fruit tree.