Tamarind; Tamarind Pulp; Tamarind Paste

Tamarindus indica. The tamarind tree is tall and generous, giving shade from Africa to India and Southeast Asia. Its tender leaves are used to make a Burmese salad. Its fruit (magyi thi in Burmese) grows in long pale pods, inside which is a sticky brown mass of flesh and seeds. Some tamarind is tart-sweet and can be eaten as a (rather sticky) snack; and some is just tart. Tart tamarind is used as a souring agent from Vietnam to India and Pakistan. The name comes from the Arabic tamar-hindi, meaning “date [tamir] from India.”