Tamarind is a tropical fruit found indigenous to tropical Africa and naturalized in Asia. The fruit itself is a long, brown pod, looks similar to a large bean pod. Inside its hard shell carries a thick stringy pulp which packs quite a punch of tangy flavor.

You can purchase tamarind in this shell at some grocery stores, but to remove the shells and seeds can be a difficult task. There are other forms you can purchase tamarind in, such as in a pressed block, a paste or syrup. 

Over the years I have purchased different types of tamarind, but the time it takes to shell and remove the seeds makes it an undesirable task. The pulp inside holds many seeds which can be difficult to remove, and in making our tamarind sauce, we want a smooth consistnecy.

Finding this tamarind paste on Amazon has been such a huge time saver! It is the only way I make tamarind sauce now. I cannot go back to shelling and removing seeds, so I highly recommend getting tamarind paste to make your tamarind chutneys. 

The great thing about using this paste, is you can make as much as you'd like and adjust the tanginess and sweetness to your likeness. It's simple to add this ingredient with your sugar and add more or less as you taste. 

Tamarind itself is very sour and tangy, so we need a good amount of sugar to balance it out, but again you can adjust to your liking. 

Being this is a paste it is a more concentrated flavor, so a little does go a long way. I start off with just a little over a tablespoon amount and go from there. You can add more tamarind paste if you'd like it sourer, however in a traditional tamarind chutney in doubles (which is what we're using this for) it should be sweet to balance all the other flavors. 

 

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