Are You Familiar with Tamarind?
By alaskanray
@alaskanray (4636)
United States
December 21, 2011 2:42am CST
My daughter and I are hooked on the Mexican soft drink Jarritos. Mainly because it comes in the Tamarind flavor, which is our favorite. We never buy any of the other flavors, in fact. It's the tamarind that we love. However, we didn't know exactly what a tamarind was so we looked it up online.
We discovered that it is actually a tropical fruit and legume. Since we've never seen it in the supermarket, though, we are still curious and would love to learn more about this delicious food. For instance, I found paste, sauce and juice for sale online but is the fruit eaten fresh? What uses are there for it besides flavoring soda pop? What does it taste like outside the soda?
I hope there are some folks from Mexico or other countries where the tamarind grows that can share some information and stories about this fascinating fruit. 
1 person likes this
13 responses
@09053050322 (59)
• China
21 Dec 11
In my coutry-China,it be used as medicine.It is useful for dyspepsia.Some place use it to cook with other food.But i haven't eaten any food with it.If i have chance i think i will eat it.
@alaskanray (4636)
• United States
21 Dec 11
Yah, the only way we can get it here is in the Jarritos soda. I think I would like the fruit, myself. I know that I can't seem to get enough of it in the soda.
1 person likes this
@prettyruby (350)
• United States
3 Jan 12
My parents are originally from Taiwan, and I had never heard of Tamarind either until my Mexican Spanish teacher introduced it to me in middle school. It's so good! I love the soda and the candy, but you can actually make your own Tamarind 'juice' (sort of like Lemonade, but with Tamarind instead). You can find recipes online. You should definitely try Tamarind ice cream sometime too! It's more like a sherbert, but it's delicious!
@luntian_grace (1373)
• Philippines
21 Dec 11
yeah... i know what is a tamarind... we call it sampalok in philippines... it's actually a tree... when i was i grade school we always climb the tamarind tree to grab some fruit... tamarind's fruit has a brown skin (cover) it's really like a think bark of a tree... you will know it its ripe when you open the cover it's brittle and when you look inside it has a brown paste like texture... if its not yet ripe it's hard and green inside its skin...
1 person likes this
@bambee2179 (51)
• Philippines
21 Dec 11
Yeah I agree with you Grace, when it's green it is sour almost taste like lemon but when it is ripe it is sweet and tangy. Here in the Philippines it is often made into candies and jams. It is often mixed in fish soup also. :) Merry Christmas
@eunique317 (347)
• Philippines
21 Dec 11
We have a tamarind tree in our backyard. It used to yield fruits but now it just stood there. It has stopped bearing fruits. I miss our old tamarind tree.
1 person likes this
@alaskanray (4636)
• United States
21 Dec 11
Wow! How fun! I bet you loved picking that fruit! I wish we could find it locally here. It sounds delicious and I know I LOVE the Jarritos tamarind flavored soda!
@stanley777 (9402)
• Philippines
31 Dec 11
we have many tamarind trees here in our country since we are a topical country. We usually make them into candies and they are really sweet, I don't eat raw ones though.. they are usually sour..
We usually make them into candies and they are really sweet, I don't eat raw ones though.. they are usually sour..1 person likes this
@alaskanray (4636)
• United States
31 Dec 11
I prefer sour to sweet. I just wish fresh tamarind were available locally. Oh, well...
@nangisha (3495)
• Indonesia
23 Dec 11
Basically there are two kind of tamarind, sweet and sour one. In our country, Indonesia, mostly we used the sour one for making drink and making certain cuisine. In Thailand they had the sweet version.
I think you can find it in any asian store in you area. Usually in form fresh one or paste ready to used. The taste usually sweet and sour and refreshing. My favorite is boiling the Tamarind paste with brown sugar. Wait until it cold and put it in fridge and they ready to drink.
@alaskanray (4636)
• United States
24 Dec 11
Unfortunately, where I live there are no Asian shops. I suppose if I were to visit a large city I might find one...
@alaskanray (4636)
• United States
21 Dec 11
I like sour fruits very much. I wish we had it in the stores here so I could try it! It sounds yummy! I don't really eat candies so I don't think I would like to have the candy...I prefer the sourness and healthy benefits of the fresh fruit.
I don't really eat candies so I don't think I would like to have the candy...I prefer the sourness and healthy benefits of the fresh fruit.
@kalyani1234 (637)
• India
21 Dec 11
In India we do prepare a kind of drink from tamarinds, it is supposed to aid digestion.
1 person likes this
@kalyani1234 (637)
• India
21 Dec 11
Hello alaskanray, yes we use tamarind a lot in India to add sour taste to many dishes. It is also used to prepare sauces and chutneys and I love its tangy sour taste very much. It is mainly used when ripe but the raw fruit is eaten with relish by flavoring it with a pinch of salt, especially schoolgirls love it a lot!
Raw fruit is also used to prepare tasty pickles. The tamarind that we get in India is mainly sour with very slight sweet tinge to it. I once tasted tamarind that someone had brought from Singapore and it was more sweeter than ones I had ever tasted, it was very very yummy! Slurrppppp, just thinking about it has made my mouth water
@narthan (325)
• India
21 Dec 11
Hey I too love tamarind. Here In India they make many Dish using it. Especially one rice dish called Puliogare, can also be called Tamarind Rice. we have one tamarind tree just in my surrounding and love eating it fresh from tree, though it is a little sour. But I love to eat those.
Regards,
Narthan
@alaskanray (4636)
• United States
21 Dec 11
I love sour fruits! One of my favorites is the tangelo...but only if the flavor is nice and strong. I've also been known to suck on limes and lemons. Sour is good.
@TheCatLady (4691)
• Israel
22 Dec 11
Tamarind drink is lovely. I used to buy it on occasion when I lived in San Francisco. The one I bought was a fruit juice drink box. Yummy for my tummy.
1 person likes this
@alaskanray (4636)
• United States
24 Dec 11
Do you remember the brand? I'm out in the boonies pretty much in Eastern Oregon and the only tamarind drink I can find here is the Jarritos soda.
@jazel_juan (15746)
• Philippines
22 Dec 11
We have tamarinds here and yes it is a legume and a tropical fruit and it tastes SOUR. lol i love eating it when it is not yet ripe, where its insides are green and i dip in salt.. but i also love it when it is ripe and brown in color and my mom would cook them and turn them into candy tamarinds..sweet and sour at the same time and my mouth is watering right now i want to eat some! 
1 person likes this
@alaskanray (4636)
• United States
22 Dec 11
Oh, yes...my mouth is watering too! I really wish it grew locally here. I would love to try the fruit!
@Graceekwenx (3160)
• Philippines
21 Dec 11
Hi Alaskanray! I looooooooooove tamarinds! I eat in fresh! If i find the tamarind kinda sour, i drizzle it with brown sugar and salt and water such that it turns to a paste... yummy...... i am drooling already!
We also have a dish here called Sinigang which uses tamarind as its soup base. It is my faaaaaaaavorite! Garsh! I really am salivating! Other alternatives for the soup base of sinigang is guava and lately, ive heard, we can also use coconut juice.
1 person likes this
@alaskanray (4636)
• United States
21 Dec 11
I've had guava nectar in a punch before and loved it but found that the guava juice by itself wasn't as tasty. I wish I could try some of these dishes you mentioned. I love the Jarritos tamarind flavored soda so I think I would like the fruit, itself. I just wish it was available here locally. Oh, sigh!
@louievill (28851)
• Philippines
21 Dec 11
hi friend, as mentioned tamarind or "sampalok" is a common tree here in the Philippines. you can eat the fruit as is but the most common form you can find here is candy or sweetened and it's a delicacy with so many variations with seed or no seed. It's also an alternative to make our sour soup called "sigang' that you can make with milk fish, pork or beef ( alternated with a fruit called kamias or sour variety guava). We have a native dish call sinampalokan manok where you put a whole chicken in an earthen pot together with a lot of young tamarind leaves and a little salt' covered and cooked on wood fire, surprise when you open it and it would have chicken and a real nice and healthy sour soup with it.
1 person likes this
@alaskanray (4636)
• United States
21 Dec 11
Oh, I wish I were rich so I could travel the world just to eat the local foods! They sound soooo delicious!
@eunique317 (347)
• Philippines
21 Dec 11
How funny this is! I just ate some earlier. After reading your post, I started salivating for want of more tamarind. Tamarind tastes sweet and sour. I usually eat candy tamarind but I can also eat it fresh. I often add salt when it is fresh.
@alaskanray (4636)
• United States
21 Dec 11
Folks here will salt their apples, too. I would love to try the fruit but it isn't available in the US so I guess I'll just have to suffer and make do with the Jarritos soda.
@alaskanray (4636)
• United States
21 Dec 11
Well, I do love sour stuff...even more than sweet...so I think I would like the fruit.
