It’s NOT a POOP Part II

Posted on July 19, 2007 - Filed Under Adventures in Shopping, Food, Gluten Free, Magic Bullet, Products/Foods, Reviews, Soy Free, Vegan, Vegetarian

This is what the tamarind looks like when it is removed from its shell. It has a wiry rootlike “spine” that comes down on two to three sides that must be pulled off. Then there is the sweet fruit that is like a sticky paste which covers the membrane holding the pits. Each “bump” in the hard shell coating indicates a pit on the inside. Here’s a shot of the pits. They really are quite pretty in color and texture. As I mentioned before I think they’d make great game pieces for a board game or maybe something like mancala. Their coloring resembles an exotic hardwood, like cocobola.

So for those of you who were wondering, the fruit itself is not spicy or tangy. It is sweet with a bit of tart. It does really resemble a slightly drier raisin or date paste. I think when they used it in Worcestershire sauce it was to give it a little sweetness with just a bit of tartness.

Now, when I went to use these in the Raw Priestess Brownies recipe, it was a LOT of work to get the pits out of the membrane they were in (there being five to six in each tamarind pod) and I used the whole box minus three pods that had been broken in transit or taste-tested ahead of time. The fruity paste was impossible to scrape off the membranes successfully so I ended up blending the pit membrane in with the fruit and cocoa powder then added the nuts. I added a tiny bit of water to the mix just to keep things from wearing out my Magic Bullet’s motor. Next, I added coconut. Then I rolled balls out of the mixture and rolled them in coconut or cocoa powder to finish them off. See how to do this without making a mess here.

The Results

Well, they looked exactly like the original raw brownies I had made in an earlier post, so I won’t put up a photo (if you simply MUST see them, go here.) They tasted almost just like them too. They had a slight bit more of a tart ending to them than the ones made with dates. The box of tamarinds was far less expensive than a 12 oz. container of medjool dates, but the work involved to get the fruit into a usable state was not worth the savings for a recipe that would normally be a lot less work. So in the future I’d rather pay the extra money for the medjool dates for the raw priestess brownies. On the other hand, I think the tamarind pods are a great little snack for kids who are past the accidental choking phase. It’s kind of fun to break the shell, suck the fruit off and then spit the pits out and I don’t think the tamarind fruit-paste is quite as sticky to the teeth as raisins are. I like the way they taste better on their own than in the brownie recipe.

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Comments

6 Responses to “It’s NOT a POOP Part II”

harmonia (175 comments.) on July 19th, 2007 10:07 pm

Very informational!
Opal: Vegan Momma (23 comments.) on July 20th, 2007 11:11 am

It sounds lovely. I haven’t used tamarind in a while.
harmonia (175 comments.) on July 20th, 2007 2:15 pm

http://harmonia.wordpress.com/2007/07/20/layout-idea-1-and-a-goal/

You up for a scrapbooking challenge???
teeni on July 20th, 2007 8:12 pm

Opal, I’d love to know what you have done with it and if you have any helpful hints to make it easier to deal with the shelling/pits, etc.
harmonia (175 comments.) on July 20th, 2007 10:08 pm

hey there! You comment made me laugh…I replied. I am cooking Quinoa right now and will be in and out of the zoi for a little bit

I won’t be around much tomorrow but I pre=posted some stuff…I’ll try and log on later tomorrow night. Have a great weekend!
blaqberry (68 comments.) on July 22nd, 2007 11:40 pm

How neat!! I’ve never tried fresh tamarind, only the paste in sauce form. Nice read about your culinary adventures.