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Tamarind (Tamarindus indica L.)

Synonyms

pharmaceuticalPulpa Tamarindorum
Arabicتمر الهندي, صبار
تَمْر الْهِنْدِي
Sbar, Tamr al-hindi
Aramaicܬܡܪܗܢܕܝ
Tamarhendi
Assameseতেতেলী
Teteli
BelarusianТамарынд, Індыйскі фінік
Tamarynd, Indyjski finik
Bengaliতেঁতুল
Tentul
Bodoथिङख्लाङ
Thing-khlang
BretonTamarindez
BurmeseMa-gyi-thi
Chakma𑄖𑄬𑄘𑄮𑄃𑄨, 𑄖𑄬𑄘𑄳𑄤𑄰
Tedoi
Chinese
(Cantonese)
大瑪琳 [daaih máh làhm], 羅晃子 [lòh fóng jí], 羅望子 [lòh mohng jí]
Daaih mah lahm, Loh fong ji, Loh mohng ji
Chinese
(Mandarin)
大瑪琳 [dà mǎ lín], 羅晃子 [luó huàng zǐ], 羅望子 [luó wàng zǐ]
Da ma lin, Luo huang zi, Luo wang zi
CroatianIndijska datula, Indijska urma, Tamarind
CzechTamarind
DanishTamarind
Dhivehiހެލެނބެލި
Helen'beli
Dogriईमली
Imli
DutchTamarinde, Indische dadel, Assem
Dzongkhaཏི་ཏི་རི་
Titiri
EnglishIndian date
EsperantoTamarindo
EstonianTamarindipuu, Tamarind
Farsiتمر هندی
Tamre hendi
FinnishTamarindi
FrenchTamarin
GaroTengtuni, Cheng
GermanTamarinde, Indische Dattel, Sauerdattel
GreekΤάμαριν
Tamarin
Gujaratiઆમલી
Amli
HausaTsamiya
Hebrewתמר הינדי
תָּמָר הִינדִי
Tamar hindi
Hindiइमली
Imli
HmarSimkerlek
HungarianTamarindusz gyümölcs, Indiai datolya
IndonesianAsam jawa, Asam kuning
ItalianTamarindo
Japaneseタマリンド
Tamarindo
Kannadaಹುಣಸೇಮರ, ಹುಣಸೇಹಣ್ಣು, ಹುಳಿ
Amla, Huli, Hunase-hannu; Hunase-mara (tree)
Kashmiriتمبری
Tambari
KhasiSoh tyntoi
KhmerAmpil khui, Ampil tum
Korean태머린드, 타마린드
Taemeorindu, Tamarindu
Laoໃບໝາກຂາມ, ໝາກຂາມ, ກົກໝາກຂາມ
Bai mak kham, Kok mak kham, Kham, Mak Kham
LithuanianTamarindas, Indinis tamarindas
Maithiliईमली
Imli
MalayAsam jawa, Asam kuning
Malayalamപുളിമരം, പുളി, വാളന്പുളി
Puli, Pulimaram, Valanpuli
Manipuri (Meitei-Lon)মংগে
ꯃꯪꯒꯦ
Mangge
Marathiचिंच
Chinch
MizoTengtere
Naga (Angami)Keteltenga
Naga (Ao)Emli tenga
Naga (Chakhesang-Chokri)Imlishe
Naga (Khezha)Imli
Naga (Konyak)Pewansi
Naga (Lotha)Keteltenga
Naga (Mao)Kakhresii
Naga (Rongmei)Mangae
Naga (Sumi)Imlibo
Naga (Tangkhul)Mangke
Nepaliइम्ली, तित्री, तेतोर
Imli, Titri, Tetor
Newari
(Nepalbhasa)
तिसतिस
Tistis
Oriyaକଁଯା, ତେନ୍ତୁଳୀ
Kamya, Tentuli
PolishTamarynd
PortugueseTamarindo
Punjabiਇਮਲੀ
Imli
RomanianTamarin
RussianФиник индийский, Индийский финик, Тамаринд
Finik indiski, Indijski finik, Tamarind
SanskritTintiri, Tintiddii
SantaliJojo dare
SerbianТамаринда, Демиринди, Индијска урма
Tamarinda, Demirindi, Indijska urma
Sinhalaසියඹලා, සියබලා
Siyambala
SlovakTamarinda
SlovenianIndijska tamarinda
SpanishTamaríndo
SrananTamalen
SwahiliUkwaju
SwedishTamarind
TagalogSampalok
Tamilபுளி, வடுபுளி
Puli, Vatupulli
Teluguచింత చెట్టు, చింతపండు
Chinta chettu, Chintapandu
Thaiขาม, มะขาม, เม็ดมะขาม
Kham, Ma kham peak, Ma kham, Met ma kham
Tuluಪುಳಿ, ಪುಂಕೆಪುಳಿ, ಓಟೇಪುಳಿ
Puli, Punkepuli, Otepuli
TurkishDemirhindi, Temirhindi
Urduاملی
Amli
VietnameseCây me, Me chua, Trái me
Cay me, Me chua, Trai me
Yiddishטאַמאַרינד
Tamarind
Tamarindus indica: Fresh tamarind
Fresh tamarind
Tamarindus indica: Ripe tamarind pods
Ripe tamarind fruits
Used plant part

Unripe or ripe fruits. Com­mon­ly, the pulp of ripe pods is ex­tracted in water to yield tamar­ind water.

Plant family

Caesalpini­aceae (a tropic family closely related to the bean family)

Sensory quality

Sour, tart and very fruity; sweetness is hardly discernible in the common varieties. See mango on the topic of acid­ity.

Main constitu­ents

Ripe tamar­inds contain sugars (35 bis 50%), whose sweet taste is, how­ever, out­weighted by up to 20% tartaric acid which has an intensively acidic taste and depresses the pH down to 3.15. Some cultivars of tamarind decompose the tartaric acid on ripening (sweet tamarind) and can be eaten raw as fruit. Tamarind fruit is rich in some metal ions (calcium, potassium, zinc, iron).

Tamarindus indica: Tamarind flower
Tamarind flower
Tamarindus indica: Tamarind flower
Close-up to tamarind flower

www.botany.hawaii.edu   © Gerald Carr

Tamarindus indica: Tamarind branch with fruits
Tamarind branch with fruits

www.tropilab.com

Tamarindus indica: Tamarind flower
Tamarind flower

Among the vola­tiles, terpenes (limonene, geraniol), phenyl­propanoids (safrole, cinnamic acid, ethyl cinnamate), other esters (methyl salicylate) and hetero­cylic compounds (pyrazines, alkyl­thiazoles) are reported. While the com­position of volatiles is very variable, furane derivatives seem to be most common (2-acetyl­furan, furfural). One work reports the sesqui­terpene hydro­carbon aroma­dendrene as main aroma com­pound in Australian tamarinds. (J. Essent. Oil Res., 6, 547, 1994)

In another work, gas chromato­graphy of an aqueous extract from ripe Cuban tamar­inds yielded 2‑phenyl­acet­aldehyde, 2-furfural, palmitic acid and limonene; total volatiles was only 3 ppm. (J. Essent. Oil Res., 16, 318, 2004)

Origin

From Eastern Africa, but now growing all over the tropics.

Etymology

Englisch tamarind is based on the Arabic name of that plant, tamr al-hindi [تمر الهندي]. Similar or identical names are found all over Europe, e. g., Swedish, Estonian and Russian tamar­ind [тамаринд], Spanish and Italian tamar­indo and Greek tamarin [τάμαριν]. Turkish demir­hindi shows a slight variation of sounds.

Arabic at‑tamr al-hindi [التمر الهندي] simply means the date of India (date being a general name for the fruits of various palm trees); need­less to say, tamar­ind neither stems from India nor is it related to palm trees. In spite of this defi­ciency, loan trans­lations of this name have made their way into some languages like English (Indian date), German (Indi­sche Dattel), Hungarian (Indiai datolya) and Russian (Indiyski finik [Индийский финик]), although they are not much used in modern speech. German also has obsolete Sauer­dattel sour date.

The term date itself came to English via Old Provençal datil and allegedly goes back to Greek daktylos [δάκτυλος] finger; this naming, obviously motivated by shape resemblance, seems even more fit for tamarind than for true dates. See also turmeric for the etymology of India.

Selected Links

Indian Spices: Tamarind (indianetzone.com) Ilkas und Ullis Kochecke: Tamarinde (rezkonv.de via archive.org) Plant Cultures: Tamarind The Epicentre: Tamarind Sorting Tamarindus names (www.plantnames.unimelb.edu.au) Tamarindus indica L. (hort.purdue.edu) Medical Spice Exhibit: Tamarind Floridata.com: Tamarind Recipe: Pork Vindaloo [विंदालू]: A very detailled recipe (www.nmt.edu) Recipe: Goa Food – Pork Vindaloo [विंदालू] (come2india.org) Recipe: Pork Vindaloo (Vendaloo) [विंदालू] (ladyshrike.com)


Tamarindus indica: Tamarind tree
Tamarind tree

wwwscas.cit.cornell.edu

Tamarindus indica: Tamarind flower
Tamarind flower
Tamarind is the only im­por­tant spice of African origin. Today, it is a much-valued food in­gre­dient in many Asian or Latin Ameri­can recipes.

The sour and fruity taste of tamar­ind merges well with the heat of chiles and gives many South Indian dishes their hot and sour character, and their dark colour. In India, tamar­ind is mostly com­bined with meat or legumes (lentils, chick peas or beans). The pulp is sold dry and must be soaked before usage. Only the water is then added to the food. Alternatively (and more comfortably), tamarind extract may be used with the same effect.

A well-known example of a Southern Indian dish employing tamarind is vindaloo (vindalu [विंदालू]), a fiery pork stew from Goa. Goa is an Indian union state on the West coast with a large proportion of Christans, having been a Portu­guese colony until the 1960s; as a Portu­guese heritage, pork is very popular in Goan cooking. Basically, vindaloo is a spicy, tropical version of Portu­guese porco vinho e alho (see garlic): Pork is marinated with a paste made from vinegar (instead of the original wine), ground onions, garlic, ginger and a host of spices (chile, cloves, cinnamon, pepper, cumin, toasted black mustard seeds) for several hours and then, together with the marinade and tamarind water, stewed until tender. Variants with poultry instead of pork are popular with Hindus and Muslims. Outside of India, the recipe is often bastardized by adding potatoes due to confusion with Hindi alu [आलू] potato. Another South Indian food employing tamarind is the vegetable rice dish bese bele from Karnataka (see coconut).

Tamarindus indica: Tamarind flower
Tamarind flowers
Tamarindus indica: Tamarind leaves
Tamarind foliage

Soups in the Euro­pean sense have no tra­dition in India; yet all South Indian states enjoy a special kind of spice broth with a delight­fully fresh, tart and spicy flavour; it is known as rasam [ரசம்] in Tamil and as saru [ಸರೂ] in Kannada. It consists of a long and slowly sim­mered broth made from fresh (cori­ander, curry leaves, gar­lic, ginger and dried (cumin, cori­ander, chiles, pepper) spices plus some red lentils and a good amount of tamarind. Before serving, some more fried spices may be mixed in, or alter­natively a few tomato slices or (preferred in Andhra Pradesh) a few dark brown, crispy fried dried chiles may enter the pot. Rasam is eaten with rice, like any curry.

Mulliga­tawny soup, an Anglo–Indian recipe, is basi­cally an adap­tion of rasam aug­mented with boiled chicken meat, al­though con­tempor­ary recipes have gone a long way from that origin.

On Jawa, Indo­nesia’s most popu­lous is­land, tamar­ind is taken as basis for spicy and some­times sweet pastes used to mari­nade meat or soy bean cheese (tahu) before frying. A typical mix­ture might con­tain tamar­ind water besides soy sauce, garlic and pos­sibly ginger and galangale; chiles, of course, are added up to taste.

Tamarindus indica: Tamarind branch bearing fruits
Tamarind branch bearing fruits

pharm1.pharmazie.uni-greifswald.de

Tamarindus indica: Tamarind fruits
Tamarind tree with ripe pods
Tamarindus indica: Tamarind pods
Tamarind pods

Jawanese food is unique in Indo­nesia for its sweet–sour com­positions, but the sweet–sour taste is much less dominant than in some Chi­nese recipes. For the sour taste, tamar­ind is pre­fer­red to limes, and as sweet­eners palm sugar (see coconut) and the sweet soy sauce typical for Indo­nesia (kecap manis) are most popular. Other ingre­dients re­spon­sible for the parti­cular character of Jawanese food are fermented shrimp paste (trassi) and peanuts, which are ground to a paste and added to many sauces. Frequently, sweetness is more pronounced than acidity.

Although only a small minority of Western con­sumers knows tamarind today, there is still one product con­taining tamar­inds that has gained some impor­tance in inter­national cuisine: Worcester sauce, which may be called Indian inspired in the same way as curry powder. See cloves for details.

In peninsular Southeast Asia (Vietnam and Thailand), the pods are both used ripe and unripe; in the fresh state, their tartness is less fruity and more astringent. Fresh tamarind pods cannot be dried or otherwise preserved, except by deep-freezing. Tamarind is often used for acidic soups, which are very refreshing in the tropical climate of Vietnam and Cambodia. See also rice paddy herb.



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