TAMARIND

As a dietitian and foodie, nothing makes me happier than when an opportunity to try a new food presents itself.  I’ve tasted some pretty crazy things over the years, but I have never once regretted giving unique and unusual foods a try.  Not only does it expand your palate, but it can serve as the running start to some fantastic conversations.

I can understand why people shy away from trying new things.  Fear of the unknown can be a powerful persuader.  I encourage you to taste as many foods as you can, especially when they derive from a culture other than your own.  If you don’t, you may find yourself missing out on some once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.  Like the one I had a few days ago. 

 A fellow hospital employee brought in fresh tamarind for the dietitians earlier this week, which is this cool looking fruit that she used to eat all the time when she was growing up in Costa Rica.  I had heard of tamarind before, but had never seen the actual fruit.  It’s a good thing she brought it in and showed us how to eat it because I would have overlooked it in a grocery store.  Tamarind is a fruit, but it looks like those dark brown pods (the ones that rattle when you shake them) that you’ve seen hanging from the trees in the summer.  I’d probably pass them off as a type of fresh spice, such as vanilla bean, or wrinkle my forehead and wonder what ugly, deformed peanuts were doing in the produce section. 
Each fruit is approximately 4-6 inches in length with a thin, hard outer shell.  After you crush and peel off the shell, you are left with an odd (okay, don’t freak out on my descriptions….I’m just trying to explain this so you can visualize it), intestine-looking gooey fruit leather.  Root-like projections hold the edible fruit together, and beneath the fruit are beautiful, deep red seeds.  


Eating the fruit is the fun part.  Some people rip off a few seeds worth of fruit with their hand, while others just bite them off a few at a time.  The texture is almost like that of a date or raisin, but more tender and not as sweet.  I wouldn’t say they melt in your mouth, but they are very easy to chew.  And removing the seeds takes such little effort.  When you eat a peach or plum it can sometimes be hard to get all of the fruit from the inner pit.  You’re left with a nasty chunk that has to be thrown away immediately for fear of getting something all sticky.  Not so with tamarind.  You can chew the fruit from around the seed and spit out a perfectly clean, shiny red gem.  Seriously, you could throw the seeds in a rock collection and most people wouldn’t know the difference. 

One would not find this fruit at a fancy dinner party.  I could see myself eating them at a baseball game or informal lunch, but that’s about it. Some people even remove the edible fruit portion, roll it in sugar, and form it into balls to be served as a holiday dessert.  Others boil the fruit in water and make tasty drinks out of it (I’ve seen tamarind margarita’s at traditional Mexican restaurants before)!  And I bet a 7^th grade anatomy/ science teacher would have a blast using them as visual aids for their digestive system units! 

It may not be the most attractive fruit, but it’s incredibly healthy. One piece of tamarind has a mere 5 calories, but I don’t know many people that stop after just one.  A few pieces (or 1 ounce of pulp) houses healthy carbohydrates, thiamin, potassium, folate, and some fiber.  Many people eat this fruit to promote bowel movement regularity, as it is used as a natural laxative.  Now who could say no to that!