Tamarind

What Does Tamarind Taste Like? To approximate the sweetness and tang tamarind brings to recipes, cooks sometimes substitute equal parts brown sugar and lime or lemon juice. But there's more to its flavor: Notes of caramel and molasses give tamarind more complexity, and its acidity is somewhat milder than that of lemon and lime and lacks the hints of bitterness found in citrus. How to Buy Tamarind You can find tamarind at Asian, Latin, and Middle Eastern markets. The fruit comes in several forms: powder, paste, concentrate, and in a plastic-wrapped block. Sometimes, tamarind paste and concentrate refer to the same product. Concentrates, however, tend to be more watered down than pastes. A block (aka tamarind pulp) takes more TLC than ready-to-use powder and paste because you have to soak, mash, and strain the portion you're cooking with first. Once you've done that, you're left with a paste-like product.

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The The leaves, beans, bark, and wood of the tamarind tree have a wide variety of uses. Tamarind is an ingredient in Worcestershire sauce and is used in many dishes in Asia, South and Central America, Africa, and the Caribbean. It appears in many chutneys, sauces, candies, and drinks. Health Benefits People use tamarind in traditional medicine, but its therapeutic uses need more exploration. Tamarind pulp contains a variety of nutrients that can boost your health. Tissue Health Amino acids, the building blocks of protein, are necessary for the body to grow and repair tissues. Some amino acids are essential, meaning that the body can't synthesize them, so people must get them from food. Tamarind contains significant amounts of all the essential amino acids except tryptophan. It meets the standards of the World Health Organization for an ideal protein for the other amino acids. Researchers are unsure, however, how well the body can absorb all the nutrients found in tamarind. Cancer Risk Reduction Scientists recommend a diet high in antioxidants for many reasons, one of them being a reduction in the risk of cancer. Antioxidants can prevent Brain Health The category of B vitamins contains eight different vitamins that function similarly. All are water-soluble so the body doesn't store them. You should be able to get enough B vitamins in your diet without resorting to supplements. The entire range of B vitamins is essential for good health. They are especially necessary for pro...

The food of my childhood is incomplete without the flavor of tamarind: Cycling to school meant sucking on one of the tamarind candies stuffed in my pockets. Meeting friends for paani puri, a crispy fried dough filled with a medley of chutneys, including the ubiquitous tamarind chutney, was a weekly affair. And on the long train journey from Pune in western India to my hometown in Tamil Nadu, I eagerly dug into the South Indian dish puliyodharai, tamarind rice wrapped in a banana leaf parcel. In Indian cuisine, tangy tamarind plays many roles. It acts as a preservative, a cooling agent, and a remedy—its paste relieves the itchy mouthfeel that comes from eating tubers like yam and taro. It’s also sour and sharp; as Saee Koranne-Khandekar explains in her book Pangat, a Feast, tamarind plays a crucial part in balancing flavors. When added to the lentil vegetable stew sambar and to other curries like puli kuzhambu, which consists of vegetables like moringa pods, eggplant, or okra cooked in a tamarind base, its sharpness contrasts with the spices. Because tamarind comes in so many forms and is consumed in countless ways, below, I’ll walk you through its wide usage in Indian cuisine as well as its excellent benefits (tamarind is also an important ingredient in Southeast Asian and Central and South American cuisine). First off, what is tamarind? Widely used in India, tamarind is a plump pod-like fruit with a sweet, tangy flavor that is indigenous to tropical Africa. The word tamar...

Raw tamarind will usually make your mouth pucker, so it's most often used in pickling and chutneys, especially in its unripe, green form. Powdered tamarind is used both in cooked dishes as well as dusted atop snacks like peanuts for a tingly/sweet/sour experience. Paste, concentrate, or extract of the ripe fruit is used as a sweet-sour agent in chutneys and many meat dishes. Browned and ripened fruits are often used as a marinade for steak or fish. The fruit is used in many cases to balance flavors or add a mild sourness to dishes. Tamarind can tenderize meat or act as a food preservative. The specific flavor of tamarind depends on how you use it.

Around the world, tamarind fruit is a key ingredient in popular and culturally significant dishes both savory and sweet. But it comes from a tree that can only survive in tropical and subtropical climates, so depending on where you live, you may not be as familiar with it as you are with other fruits. Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit academic medical center. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. Registered dietitian What is tamarind? Tamarind fruit is a pod-like legume that comes from the tamarind tree ( Tamarindus indica). On the outside is a hard shell that looks like an elongated peanut shell or a brown edamame (soybean) pod. But inside is a fleshy pulp with a texture similar to dates. “Tamarind is both sweet and tangy,” Peart says. “It’s sweeter or sourer depending on how ripe it is. The riper the fruit, the sweeter the taste.” Though tamarind trees are native to tropical areas of Africa, they now grow in other warm climates, too, including South Asia, Mexico and parts of Central America. It’s one of the key ingredients in sinigang, a savory Filipino stew, and imli or saunth chutney, a sweet chutney that complements fried snacks in India and Pakistan. It’s also used in beverages like agua fresca, which abounds in Mexico and parts of Latin America, and sharbat, a chilled cordial often served during Ramadan. What forms does tamarind come in? Tamarind is sold in a few forms, depending on how you wan...

• Calories: 287 • Fat: 0.7g • Sodium: 34 mg • Carbohydrates: 75g • Fiber: 6.1g • Sugars: 46.6g • Protein: 3.4g • Potassium: 754mg • Vitamin C: 4.2mg Carbs While 1 cup of tamarind pulp has 75 grams of carbohydrates (nearly 47 grams of sugar), the fruit's glycemic load is low, meaning it doesn't cause blood sugar to spike. Tamarind is a great source of B vitamins and vitamin C, and is a potassium-rich fruit. Raw tamarind pulp provides carbohydrates and fiber, and minimal amounts of fat and protein. Health Benefits Tamarind is a traditional medicine remedy with a long list of uses, including treatment of sore throats, constipation, and sunstroke. Animal studies have shown that tamarind may help lower cholesterol and blood sugar, but no research on humans is available. However, some evidence exists for other health benefits. May Support Heart Health Thanks to its polyphenol, flavonoid, and antioxidant properties, tamarind may help support heart health by preventing oxidative damage caused by LDL cholesterol. A 2013 study found that tamarind may aid in preventing cardiovascular atherosclerosis disease (but this was a lab study; it did not investigate how tamarind might affect human heart health). May Improve Liver Function One of the tamarind fruit's lesser known potential health benefits is its ability to improve the function of the liver. Tamarind pulp contains protective polyphenols shown to boost liver function and health, while providing antioxidants that fight oxidative s...

When taken by mouth: Tamarind is commonly consumed in foods. There isn't enough reliable information to know if tamarind is safe when used in larger amounts as medicine. When placed into the eyes: Tamarind seed extract is possibly safe when used in eye drops. Pregnancy and Surgery: Tamarind seed might lower Moderate Interaction Be cautious with this combination• Aspirin interacts with TAMARIND Taking tamarind with aspirin might increase how much aspirin the body absorbs. This could increase the amount of aspirin in the body and might increase the chance of side effects. • Ibuprofen (Advil, others) interacts with TAMARIND Taking tamarind with ibuprofen might increase how much ibuprofen the body absorbs. This could increase the amount of ibuprofen in the body and might increase the chance of side effects. • Medications for diabetes (Antidiabetes drugs) interacts with TAMARIND Tamarind might lower blood sugar levels. Taking tamarind along with diabetes medications might cause blood sugar to drop too low. Monitor your blood sugar closely. Barabino S, Rolando M, Nardi M, Bonini S, Aragona P, Traverso CE. The effect of an artificial tear combining hyaluronic acid and tamarind seeds polysaccharide in patients with moderate dry eye syndrome: a new treatment for dry eye. Eur J Ophthalmol. 2014;24(2):173-8. View abstract. Cloutier F, Roumaud P, Ayoub-Charette S, Chowdhury S, Martin LJ. The intake of an extract from seeds of Tamarindus indica L. modulates the endocrine function of ad...

Tamarind’s distinct sour-and-sweet flavor makes it a team player in everything from savory curry to sweet chutney and candy. It’s even a is this unique fruit? What Is Tamarind? It’s a pod-like tree fruit that comes from a tree. The pod is technically a legume, but it’s consumed more like a fruit. Inside each pod are seeds and a sticky, tart pulp. The pulp is the part used in recipes, and it boasts a potent flavor that’s both tangy and sweet. This tree is native to Africa and can now be found in the Caribbean, Latin America and South Asia. Today, India is the world’s largest producer, and it plays a role in many popular Indian dishes. How Do You Cook with Tamarind? You can actually eat fresh tamarind. Once you crack and peel the hard outer shell of the pod, you’ll find a reddish-brown pulp and twig-like veins inside. Remove the veins, and then it’s ready to eat. (Just be careful of the hard seeds in the center.) To prepare the pulp for cooking, steep it in hot water for 30 minutes. You can drain the pulp through a sieve to remove any fibers and seeds. Tamarind is used in a variety of dishes—it gives a hint of sour to sweet chutneys, it mixes with vinegar, sugar and fish sauce to form the base of pad Thai and it’s also a staple in Indian curry when combined with coconut milk. Tamarind is a great way to tenderize meat because of its high acidity, which breaks down tougher cuts. Use it in marinades for tender meat and a hint of sour flavor. What Can I Use Instead of Tamarind...

Tamarind is a hardwood tree, known scientifically as Tamarindus indica. It’s native to Africa but also grows in India, Pakistan, and many other tropical regions. The tree produces bean-like pods filled with seeds surrounded by a fibrous pulp. The pulp of the young fruit is green and sour. As it ripens, the juicy pulp becomes paste-like and more sweet-sour. Interestingly, tamarind is sometimes referred to as the “date of India.” Summary Tamarind is a tropical tree that grows in several regions around the world. It produces pods filled with paste-like, sweet-sour fruit. This Cooking uses Tamarind pulp is widely used for cooking in South and Southeast Asia, Mexico, the Middle East, and the Caribbean. The seeds and leaves are also edible. It is used in sauces, marinades, chutneys, drinks, and desserts. It’s also one of the ingredients of Worcestershire sauce. Medicinal uses Tamarind has played an important role in traditional medicine. In beverage form, it was commonly used to treat diarrhea, constipation, fever, and malaria. The bark and leaves were also used to promote wound healing ( Modern researchers are now studying this plant for potential medicinal uses. The polyphenols in tamarind have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. These can protect against diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes ( Home uses Tamarind pulp can also be used as a metal polish. It contains tartaric acid, which helps remove tarnish from copper and bronze. Summary Tamarind is us...