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Fruit
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UNCOMMON TROPICAL FRUIT
- About Tamarind
What large tree grows cinnamon-brown, fuzzy pea pods?
Can this be a fruit?
Tasty, Tantalizing Tamarind (Tamarindus indica)
The Arabs introduced tamarind, from the Arabic tamrhindi
(Indian date), to Europe in the Middle Ages. It gives a sweet-sour,
pleasant acidity to food. The tamarind tree, graceful with feathery
foliage and small red and yellow flowers, is a distant cousin of the
string bean and a member of the pea family. In its native habitat of
tropical Africa and southern Asia, it can grow to eighty feet. Tamarind
fruit is a pod three to six inches long, three-fourths inch wide,
cinnamon-brown, and fuzzy. The fruit pods hang in clusters on the tree.
Shiny, brown, inedible seeds inside the pod are embedded in a jamlike,
edible pulp. When mature, the edible pulp shrinks from the pod. The pulp
can be found pressed into bricks, but the jellylike tamarind concentrate
sold in jars is much easier to use.
Tamarind Tips
Dilute the tamarind concentrate to your liking with water
and use it to add zip to sauces, chutney, curries, and marinades. It adds
a special taste and color to pineapple and mango chutneys. Tamarind is
wonderful as a dipping sauce for kebobs as well as drizzled over pastries.
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