food, drink & dining

Tamarinds --- tamarindos in Spanish --- are back in season. The tangy fruit of a tree that's indigenous to South Asia, tamarinds are grown in most of the world's tropical and subtropical regions, where their fruit are used for beverages, condiments and medicines.

The tamarind's medicinal properties are instructive about herbal medicine in general --- different parts of the plant have different effects on the human body. In this case, the brown pulp found within these pods is a laxative, and the beverage made from the recipe below has in this sense similar properties to prune juice. However, the shiny brown seeds encased within the pulp can be ground into a powder and used as a very effective anti-diarrheal medicine.

The pulp will make you pucker, but it wouldn't be very precise to call its taste sour. It puts the zing in some of the better Indian curried rice recipes, and in that classic British condiment, A1 Steak Sauce. (Nostalgia for colonialism is, to the chagrin of some Zonians, not what The Panama News is all about. But as you savor a filete with A1 on it, know that British colonial rule over India left us with at least this lasting benefit, even if the very thought of such a meal may be anathema to devout Hindus.)

And wouldn't you know that the Jamaicans are wont to spice up their tamarind drink with allspice berries or ginger root? You can easily make those adaptations to the following recipe.

Ingredients:
• 1 1/2 pounds of whole tamarind pods
• Enough boiling water to cover the pods
• 1/2 gallon of water
• 1 1/2 cups of turbinado sugar (more or less), or your other preferred sweetener to taste

Directions:
• In a large bowl, cover the pods with boiling water and let stand for five minutes
• Rinse and drain, discarding the water
• Remove the pods, stems, strings and seeds from the tamarinds (this will be a bit of a messy procedure)
• Combine the remaining pulp and the half-gallon of water, preferably in a large glass or ceramic bowl, and let stand for six hours
• Strain, reserving the liquid in a big pan
• Using a sieve, extract as much of the pulp as possible, separating it from the fibrous material, discarding the latter
• Combine the extracted pulp and the sugar in the pan with the reserved liquid
• Heat the liquid on a burner set at low, stirring occasionally until the sugar is melted (you don't want to overcook it)
• Remove from heat, put the liquid into a pitcher and let stand until it cools down to about room temperature
• Give the liquid another stir, then cover the pitcher and put it in the refrigerator until the liquid is thoroughly chilled

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