It had to be more than twenty plus years since I ate a tamarind. Last weekend I was presented with a sweet surprise. My sister in law brought me a box of sweet tamarinds. Now, these are hard to come by, so I knew this was a most precious gift. If you are not familiar with tamarinds this post will help you appreciate them.
Tamarinds grow on a tree mostly in tropical climates. I have memories of eating tamarinds as a kid and climbing on tamarind trees, and just hanging out and eating them atop a tree. When they are not ripen the shell is hard and kind of greenish, once they are ready to eat the shell turns brownish and is easy to crack, similar to the way you would crack an egg shell. Most tamarinds that are ready will fall to the floor, as the shell dries. Here are some pictures,to give you an idea.
Box of Tamarinds
Nutritional value – not much, but they are delicious! Mostly carbs, sugar, and fiber. They are also high in calories as you can see in the box.
I like the fact that they are harvested in a way that is environmentally friendly and the box is recyclable.
Here is what a tamarind looks like
The shape varies and so does the size.
To eat it, just crack it open with your hands.
This is what you will find inside the shell. Yeah, I know what you are thinking … but I assure you, it does not taste like that.
Close-up of the shell
Each section of the tamarind will contain a large seed. To eat it, you separate a section and suck on it until you just have the seed. The pulp is sweet and you must chew on it as well. The seeds are very hard.
Here’s the whole thing. The fibers hold the pieces of tamarind together.
Once you eat the whole tamarind you have an empty frame. For the sake of this post I had to eat one. Oh, the sacrifices we make for blogging!
Here’s a close shot of the empty frame.
And there you have it; this is how you it a tamarind. Hope you enjoy this post, I did.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
Inkspeare 
Pingback: How to Make Tamarind Concentrate Recipe « Pranee's Thai Kitchen
Thanks for stopping by.