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Tamarind Delivery or Pickup
The Instacart guide to tamarind products
About tamarind
A tropical fruit harvested from the tamarind tree, the tamarind fruit is native to Africa but grows in several other tropical regions. The tree produces bean-like pods about 5in in length that are filled with seeds and surrounded by a fibrous pulp. The young fruit's pulp is green and sour, but as it ripens, this juicy pulp becomes sweeter and more paste-like. The fruit is high in tartaric acid, which adds a tart, sweet, or sour taste to many dishes. This fruit is often called the "date of India."
When shopping for tamarind, which is a member of the legume family, you can find the pure fruit in three main forms:
- Raw pods: This is the least processed form of tamarind, and the pods are still intact. You can easily open them to remove the pulp.
- Paste:Â The shell and seeds are removed, and the pulp is dried into a paste. When you use paste in recipes, combine 1 tablespoon of paste with 1 tablespoon of water, and heat it in short intervals.
- Concentrate: With this type of tamarind, the pulp is boiled down, and preservatives are added.
The tamarind pulp is widely used in Asian, Mexican, and Middle Eastern dishes. In fact, it's one of the ingredients used in Worcestershire sauce. Its leaves and seeds are also edible.
To eat this versatile fruit, you simply remove the pulp from the raw pods. With its naturally thick and fibrous consistency, it's often softened and made into a paste before being added to recipes.Â
Some common ways to prepare tamarind include the following:
- Use it as a meat tenderizer: The acidity of the fruit makes it ideal as a tenderizer. Add it to a marinade to soften thick cuts of beef before you cook them.
- Mix it with sugar: Adding sugar to tamarind reduces the tart taste. You can make tamarind balls, which are a regular dessert in the Caribbean islands.
- Pair it with coconut milk: Tamarind is used in Indian curries and spicy dishes, often paired with coconut milk to reduce its sour taste. You can also add tamarind with other spices such as ginger, turmeric, and coriander.
- Make pad Thai: Whisk tamarind with sugar, vinegar, and fish sauce to make the base sauce found in pad Thai.
Before you start preparing your next meal with tamarind, make sure you have enough at home. Open your Instacart app, add tamarind to your order, and an Instacart shopper will get started gathering your ingredients. We'll do our best to get your groceries delivered the same day.
How to tell if tamarind Is ripe
Tamarind is at its peak flavor if you eat it within a week of its harvest. At the store, tamarind pods are often sold packaged in cellophane bags. You can tell if the pod is fresh if the shell separates when you bend the pod in half. When ripe, the shell gets dry, hard, and easily cracks.
Break open the pods, and remove the reddish-brown flesh from the strings that hold them in place, much like shelling string beans from their pods. Older pods may need to soak in hot water before you peel them if they have dried out.Â
Tamarind Near Me
Buy your favorite Tamarind online with Instacart. Order Tamarind from local and national retailers near you and enjoy on-demand, contactless delivery or pickup within 2 hours.
FAQs about tamarind
If you have raw pods, you can store them in a cool, dark place for about a week this way. Place them in a zip-top bag, and squeeze out the air. The warmer the temperature where they are stored, the faster they will ripen. After you open the pods, the fruit will last about a week.
With unopened tamarind paste, you can store it indefinitely in a cool, dark place. Once you open the paste, place it in the refrigerator, where it can last between 6 months and a year. Whenever you want some of this compressed tamarind, use a sharp knife to simply cut off the amount you want and place the remainder back in the refrigerator.
Yes, you can freeze tamarind. Unshelled tamarinds can last for a year in the freezer. Simply freeze your pods in a freezer-safe airtight container or plastic bag. You might notice a slight change in flavor compared to the fresh tamarind. Avoid freezing tamarind that has a cracked shell or that has already ripened.
You can also freeze compressed tamarind, although it's best to portion it out into smaller sizes. You can do this by putting the room-temperature paste into ice cube trays and freezing it. Place the frozen tamarind in a zip-top bag, and remove the amounts you need for the dish.
Tamarind seeds are edible, but you should probably soak them first and then roast them for about 5 minutes over medium heat. Eating the seeds directly from the shell is fine, but they taste bitter when eaten raw.