Tamarind

Tamarind is a brown, podded fruit with sticky, tangy pulp surrounding hard seeds. Its molasses-dark flesh tastes intensely tart with subtle caramel notes and dissolves easily in warm water, yielding a richly flavored extract. Cooks use it to sour curries, chutneys, marinades, and beverages, and it is sold as whole pods, pressed pulp blocks, and pastes or concentrates.\n\nNative to tropical Africa, tamarind spread across South Asia and Southeast Asia and is now cultivated throughout the tropics. It anchors flavors in Indian, Thai, Filipino, Caribbean, and Mexican cuisines, and commercial processing commonly deseeds and compresses the pulp or refines it into concentrates.