How to Eat a Tamarind

Here's how I overcame my fear of eating tamarinds. It wasn't a big fear, more like a small hesitation because of the rugged appearance of this marvel of a delicacy. It does look a little like a short, fat snake or a crusty critter. But, that's just a disguise.

Several times on my way by bike to the Tesco, I'd pass by the Tamarind Seller's roadside stand. His stand is just a box with bunches of the harvested tamarinds in piles everywhere. They look a little dusty. And they are a dusty brown colour. Nothing special to look at. But, I speculated,

"Are they tamarinds?" Not quite sure because they do look different with their shells on. "Is that the same delectable fruit you can buy with their shells off and all packaged up?"

Then, one day a friend and I were walking past the stand and I asked the vendor, "Tao rai, mai cah?" He said they were forty baht per kilo. So, thinking my friend would take half, I bought a whole kilo. Turned out she wasn't a tamarind fan so I had enough of them to last a week. They even kept fresh outside of the fridge.

 

These are the shorter ones left over from my feast. The big ones were a foot long with ten or twelve bumps. And every bumpy bite is a bit of bliss!




Breaking into a tamarind is an adventure. First you crack their dusky brown shell and it crumbles all over everywhere. Then, as you enter, there are four strings that run down the length of its bumpy body and tie in a bow at the top. Pull that off.

Now you have a funny, bumpy little fruit that looks like a piece of chocolate that's been poured over a row of bumpy nuts. But the bumps inside are shiny brown seeds that are as hard as a rock.

So, you can bite off three or four bumps in a row or just put the whole thing in your mouth at once. There's an art to chewing around the seed in the middle of each bump and getting all the meat off of it before spitting it out.

 A pealed tamarind wearing its strings. laying beside its shiny, brown seeds. "The Tamarind Seed" was a movie, wasn't it?



The taste? Like squashed dates or raisins with a teensy, tiny touch of citric acid to it? But, really there's nothing you can compare it with, because the tamarind is a unique specimen all of its own flavour and texture. Which is why you should try it.

It's something I think holds many nutrients my body had been craving. Which is why I'll continue to eat them when they're available. By the way, when IS durian season? That's my other craving...