Tamarind Tamarindus Indica, Imli The plant is thought to have originated in tropical Africa and the use of its products in India is first documented at the end of the 13th century AD. It made its first appearance in Britain in the 16th century, then taken further west by the Spanish. Cultivation is now widespread throughout India and Southeast Asia. The tree is a tall evergreen, which produces long green seed pods that look rather like round broad beans. As these pods ripen, the flesh turns to a dark chocolate-brown. These pods can be found in some specialist food stores, although it is the block form with which we are more familiar in this country. The pods are harvested, peeled, seeded, semi-dried and compressed into rectangular blocks which can be re-hydrated and sieved to produce the tamarind paste used in many Indian recipes. However, even this seems rather a laborious way to use tamarind nowadays, with the advent of so many concentrates and powders available in retail outlets - and not just in the Asian stores. Most people in this country would probably be under the mistaken impression that they have never encountered tamarind, but they would be very wrong. It is one of the major ingredients in that great British contribution to world cuisine - Worcestershire Sauce - although, even today, only four people in the whole of Lea & Perrins actually know how much of it goes into the recipe. In India, the whole plant is used: the pulp as a souring agent; the leaves and flowers as vegetables; the seeds in much the same way as a grain or pulse - ground to a flour to make cakes. In China, it is used in crystallised form to obtain their sweet and sour effect. In fact, the main use of tamarind is as a souring agent, lending a characteristic zing to a dish, tempered with just a hint of sweetness. As with all plants, tamarind has not escaped the attentions of the herbalist, especially in the holistic Ayurvedic tradition of medicine. Ayurveda lists tamarind as sour within the six tastes, which means that its properties are heavy, hot and oily. This group includes those plants which contain oxalic and fruit acids, such as blackcurrant, rosehip, the citrus family, mango and pomegranate. Its uses in Ayurveda are mainly as an aid to stimulating appetite, digestion and as a system cleanser, and is also listed as being an effective antidote for alcoholism. Mixed with sugar and a little salt, it is used for sunstroke, fever, biliousness and acute diarrhoea, and tamarind concentrate is a good, mild laxative. Nutritionally, tamarind yields an energy value of around 70 calories per oz and is a fairly good non-animal source of calcium.