While I was growing up my Father used to love cooking curry’s and we always had a strange smelling dark square of concentrated tamarind paste in the fridge. Every now and again I would scrape some off close my eyes and eat a spoon full of thick dark paste, it’s intense sweet and sour flavours rocketed around my mouth as I would squeeze my eyes and fall over. Once Dad saw this he realized it was time to show me how to use Tamarind paste. Although I was taught how to use the paste in curries I had no idea what tamarinds were or how it was made. So the other day I set out to learn about tamarinds and make my own tamarind paste (recipe here).
- Tamarinds are fleshy pods that grow on large evergreen trees – they can grow up to 80 feet high. Their Scientific name is Tamarindus indica.
- Tamarind is a Arabic word even though they originate from Africa.
- With a distinct sweet and sour flavour they are used in a lot of Asian, Middle Eastern, Indian and African dishes.
- Helps to lower your LDL cholesterol levels; The dietary fibers in the fruits pulp bind to bile salts which are produced from cholesterol and decrease their re-absorption in the colon.
- Contains calcium, copper, iron, selenium, zinc, potassium and magnesium.
- Tamarind are rich in thiamin, vitamin A, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin-C, folic acid- all essential vitamins for optimum health.
- The tartaric acid in tamarind gives at a sour taste but is also a very powerful antioxidant. (Anti-oxidant E-number is E334). Antioxidants help the body to protect itself from harmful free radicals.
Tasty Tamarind Recipes