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I just picked up some fresh pods of Tamarindo, it looks like dark brown very big peanuts, well sort of, anyway in side the pods are several large brown seeds covered in what I can only describe as a paste, very sweet a bit like pureed dates, after sucking off the sweet paste there is a seed with a coat on, remove it';s coat and you have a lovely dark brown seed about as big as your average size dried bean.

According to Google, it grows easily from seed so am having a go, just for fun.

has anyone any experience with it.

XX Jeanninr

Sorry not one I've tried, but I'm looking forward to hearing how you get on, it does sound like it will be fun :) I've not seen fresh Tamarind, although I'm not sure I've looked. Does it get very big or will you be able to keep it as a house plant?

Not sure if the same, in Thailand its called tamarind and grows out there, maybe needs plenty of heat, wife's family has a tree growing on their land  the beans used in Thai cooking.

Yes it isn the same, it would not be frost hardy.

Jayb I have already sowbn a few but can pop  a few in thew post if you fancy a go.

XX Jeannine

Its the same read below.different areas different names.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamarind

Yes I read that already when I first bought them, it was very interesting XX Jeannine

Ohhh Jeannine you temptress  :o  ;D
But reluctantly on this occasion I'm going to have to decline, mostly because I have have no room :'(  Greenhouse is full with my mini tom project - lots of plants and TPS have just been sown  ;D

Keep us posted on your progress  :)

Interesting find Jeannine...

Tamarindus Indica... Huge tall trees.. we had loads in the Zambezi Valley in Zimbabwe. A truly delicious soft chewey outer pith/paste around the seed. Very thirst quenching in the hot African sun. Tart, salty, sherberty flavour with a dash of cream of tartar and lemon.. is how I would describe it.. I think the thirst quenching was from having to find water to wash it down!! it also used to get your teeth on edge..

Hunters use to suck small pieces whilst out in the bush..

It is a temperate climate tree so I reckon you will need to be in Florida or South America to grow it properly...  

Please keep me informed how you do with it... Thanks

We get it occasionally from local Indian shops. It's good stuff, but full of seeds, and  people who aren't used to it tend to get rather puzzled by the hard coating and the texture inside. I assume it's the same stuff.

Quote from: Robert_Brenchley on March 28, 2012, 22:13:08
We get it occasionally from local Indian shops. It's good stuff, but full of seeds, and  people who aren't used to it tend to get rather puzzled by the hard coating and the texture inside. I assume it's the same stuff.

Hi Robert - sounds like it's the one..

This isn't a fruit full of seeds, it is more like a broad bean pod with large seeds inside and each seed is covered in a ??? well it looks like pureed dates and tastes very sweet. There is very little edible in the pod frankly.

XX Jeannine

That sounds about right. You take a mouthful, and spit out the seeds.

Quote from: Jeannine on March 29, 2012, 01:59:38
This isn't a fruit full of seeds, it is more like a broad bean pod with large seeds inside and each seed is covered in a ??? well it looks like pureed dates and tastes very sweet. There is very little edible in the pod frankly.

XX Jeannine

Yep  - thats the one...

Be warned! Fresh tamarind is as good a laxative as senna and my friends in Thailand use it for those exact properties. ::)  I realized then why an Indian girlfriend had told me that, as children, she and her friends were forbidden from eating it from the trees on their walk to school.

I've not looked for fresh here, but as Robert has written, I'm sure it is found in the Indian shops around and the Bull Ring market. I buy blocks and reconstitute it as an ingredient for curries - lots of recipes include it.

Bet it's grown down at the Eden Project in one of their domes. 8)

There are many varieties of tamarind... as there are of any fruit.

Our local grocer sells a very high quality one in season in boxes about a litre or a bit less. They have a very nice sweet sour balance to anyone who enjoys fresh apples off the tree before they "ripen"(not!) months later  into a sweet mealy mush you could spoon for your toothless grandad.

I have eaten half a box of these "dessert tamarinds" at a sitting and had no ill effects - these are the ones worth sowing because the tender young leaves can be eaten as a vegetable.

There are definitely other types grown entiirely for making paste for cooking - these will be the fibrous ones to avoid.

There are also intermediate types.

There is also the black tamarind which is poisonous and never sold as food. This may be the tree that chilren would be told to avoid as we avoid laburnum which is also a legume.

cheers.

PS. When you use tamarind paste from a jar or rehydrated from dried never use the stuff at the bottom - theyve usually made it by mashing with sharp sand. 

My seeds are up and have their first true leaves,  think sensitive plant(mimosa) the leaves are about the same size and identical to that plant, of course the leaves will gorw much much bigger, but for now they are the same, also the green is a very pretty light green. The germination was 100% and was quite quick for a hard shelled large seed.

XX Jeannine

They must been very fresh seeds to germinate that quickly.
Is there many seeds in the pod?

No not many Goodlife. They looked a bit like shorter over stuffed brown broad beanpods with about 6 seeds per pod. The seeds are the shape of garbanzo beans and are mahogony red and shiny. They would make lovely beads. I still have some seeds left, do you want some? They would be about three weeks  old from taking out of the pod. I have no idea if that would make a difference. I sowed mine the same day I ate the first one, then podded these a few days later when I ate the rest.

Thanks Jeannine for offering..but my 'plate' is more than full at the moment.. ::) If I wouldn't have so many 'last minute' offers and swapsies..(thank you everybody) I would have loved to have a try.
But..I shall follow with interest how you get on with yours.
They really sound beautiful..I wonder if the colour will stay 'true' whent they dry out.. :-\? Do they taste nice?..I can see some 'description' to the flavour here but are they 'worth' of hassle of growing ?
I can see some qurious devil in me waiking up.. ::)..but I can grow anymore this year! ( I have to repeat that mantra, maybe it will sink in ::) ;D)

No probs.. XX Jeannine