General Description/History

The young leaves and fruit of the tamarind tree are used as a sour element in South East Asian cooking. The green fruit is sometimes eaten raw with salt and chilli, pounded into pastes or candied. Ripe tamarind is removed from its papery skin and internal fibres, rolled in sugar, salt and dried chilli and eaten as a sweetmeat. The ripe fruit is also compressed, packaged and sold in blocks as wet tamarind. This is soaked in water and strained to obtain tamarind water, which is added to dishes such as sour soup. The seeds can be eaten and roasted. In the Middle East, tamarind diluted with water and sweetened is a popular and refreshing drink.

Dried products are available all year; fresh pods in autumn.

Season: Summer,Autumn,Winter,Spring

Botanical Name: Tamarindus indica

Alternative Names: tamr hindi (Indian date), makham, me

Availablity: January,February,March,April,May,June,July,August,September,October,November,December

Growing Areas: