Tamarind - plant profile

Names

Tamarind, Indian tamarind (English)
Imli, amli, anbli (Hindu, Gujarat)
Tentul (Bengal)
Puli, amilam (Tamil)
Tetuli (Assam)
Imbli (Punjab)

Botanical name: Tamarindus indica
Family: Leguminosae, the pea and bean family.

The name tamarind derives from the Arabic 'tamr hindi' meaning 'date of India', and probably relates to its brown and sticky resemblance.

The plant

Botanical drawing of the tamarind plant
Tamarind plant with leaves, flowers and fruit, 1867.

Tamarind is the sour fruit pod of a tall, semi-evergreen tree which grows widely in the tropics and particularly in India. Tamarind trees reach a height of 30 m and are topped with a crown of feathery foliage. Their grey bark clad trunks can grow up to 2 m in diameter.

Leaves - long and feathery. Each leaf is equally divided into many smaller, finely-cut leaflets.

Flowers - yellow and streaked with pink. They are shaped like small sweet peas and smell sweet. They dangle in small clusters from the ends of leafy twigs during March to May in India.

Fruits - brown, fleshy pods that are fibrous, thick and sticky. They are sausage shaped and covered in faint fuzz, like a kiwi fruit. Inside they contain a sharp-tasting pulp and several flat shiny brown seeds. They are an important food used to provide a sour flavouring for drinks, sauces, curries, preserves and chutney. In India the pods are ripe for harvesting from April to June.