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Tropical Plant "Tamarind"
Tamarindus Indica.
Of all the fruit trees of the tropics, none is more widely distributed
nor more appreciated as an ornamental than the tamarind, Tamarindus
indica L. (syns. T. occidentalis Gaertn.;
T. officinalis Hook.), of the family Leguminosae.
Most of its colloquial names are variations on the common English
term. In Spanish and Portuguese, it is tamarindo; in
French, tamarin, tamarinier, tamarinier des Indes, or
tamarindier; in Dutch and German, tamarinde; in
Italian, tamarandizio; in Papiamiento of the Lesser Antilles,
tamarijn. In the Virgin Islands, it is sometimes called
taman; in the Philippines, sampalok or various
other dialectal names; in Malaya, asam jawa; in India,
it is tamarind or ambli, imli, chinch, etc.; in Cambodia,
it is ampil or khoua me; in Laos, mak kham;
in Thailand, ma-kharm; in Vietnam, me. The
name "tamarind" with a qualifying adjective is often applied
to other members of the family Leguminosae having somewhat similar
foliage. Tamarind Description
The
tamarind, a slow-growing, long-lived, massive tree reaches,
under favorable conditions, a height of 80 or even 100 ft
(24-30 m), and may attain a spread of 40 ft (12 m) and a trunk
circumference of 25 ft (7.5 m). It is highly wind-resistant,
with strong, supple branches, gracefully drooping at the ends,
and has dark-gray, rough, fissured bark.
The
mass of bright-green, fine, feathery foliage is composed of
pinnate leaves, 3 to 6 in (7.5-15 cm) in length, each having
10 to 20 pairs of oblong leaflets 1/2 to 1 in (1.25-2.5 cm)
long and 1/5 to 1/4 in (5-6 mm) wide, which fold at night.
The leaves are normally evergreen but may be shed briefly
in very dry areas during the hot season. Inconspicuous, inch-wide
flowers, borne in small racemes, are 5-petalled (2 reduced
to bristles), yellow with orange or red streaks. The flowerbuds
are distinctly pink due to the outer color of the 4 sepals
which are shed when the flower opens.
The
fruits, flattish, beanlike, irregularly curved and bulged
pods, are borne in great abundance along the new branches
and usually vary from 2 to 7 in long and from 3/4 to 1 1/4
in (2-3.2 cm) in diameter. Exceptionally large tamarinds have
been found on individual trees. The pods may be cinnamon-brown
or grayish-brown externally and, at first, are tender-skinned
with green, highly acid flesh and soft, whitish, under-developed
seeds. As they mature, the pods fill out somewhat and the
juicy, acidulous pulp turns brown or reddish-brown.
Thereafter, the skin becomes a brittle, easily-cracked shell
and the pulp dehydrates naturally to a sticky paste enclosed
by a few coarse strands of fiber extending lengthwise from
the stalk. The 1 to 12 fully formed seeds are hard, glossy-brown,
squarish in form, 1/8 to 1/2 in (1.1-1.25 cm) in diameter,
and each is enclosed in a parchmentlike membrane.
Tamarind Origin
and Distribution
Native
to tropical Africa, the tree grows wild throughout the Sudan
and was so long ago introduced into and adopted in India that
it has often been reported as indigenous there also, and it
was apparently from this Asiatic country that it reached the
Persians and the Arabs who called it "tamar hindi" (Indian
date, from the date-like appearance of the dried pulp), giving
rise to both its common and generic names. Unfortunately,
the specific name, "indica", also perpetuates the illusion
of Indian origin. The fruit was well known to the ancient
Egyptians and to the Greeks in the 4th Century B.C.
The
tree has long been naturalized in the East Indies and the
islands of the Pacific. One of the first tamarind trees in
Hawaii was planted in 1797. The tamarind was certainly introduced
into tropical America, Bermuda, the Bahamas, and the West
Indies much earlier. In all tropical and near-tropical areas,
including South Florida, it is grown as a shade and fruit
tree, along roadsides and in dooryards and parks. Mexico has
over 10,000 acres (4,440 ha) of tamarinds, mostly in the states
of Chiapas, Colima, Guerrero, Jalisco, Oaxaca and Veracruz.
In the lower Motagua Valley of Guatemala, there are so many
large tamarind trees in one area that it is called "El Tamarindal".
There are commercial plantings in Belize and other Central
American countries and in northern Brazil. In India there
are extensive tamarind orchards producing 275,500 tons (250,000
MT) annually. The pulp is marketed in northern Malaya and
to some extent wherever the tree is found even if there are
no plantations.
Tamarind Varieties
In
some regions the type with reddish flesh is distinguished
from the ordinary brown-fleshed type and regarded as superior
in quality. There are types of tamarinds that are sweeter
than most. One in Thailand is known as 'Makham waan'. One
distributed by the United States Department of Agriculture's
Subtropical Horticulture Research Unit, Miami, is known as
'Manila Sweet'.
Tamarind Climate
Very
young trees should be protected from cold but older trees
are surprisingly hardy. Wilson Popenoe wrote that a large
tree was killed on the west coast of Florida (about 7.5º lat.
N) by a freeze in 1884. However, no cold damage was noted
in South Florida following the low temperatures of the winter
of 1957-1958 which had severe effects on many mango, avocado,
lychee and lime trees. Dr. Henry Nehrling reported that a
tamarind tree in his garden at Gotha, Florida, though damaged
by freezes, always sprouted out again from the roots. In northwestern
India, the tree grows well but the fruits do not ripen. Dry
weather is important during the period of fruit development.
In South Malaya, where there are frequent rains at this time,
the tamarind does not bear.
Tamarind Soil
The
tree tolerates a great diversity of soil types, from deep
alluvial soil to rocky land and porous, oolitic limestone.
It withstands salt spray and can be planted fairly close to
the seashore.
Tamarind Propagation
Tamarind
seeds remain viable for months, will germinate in a week after
planting. In the past, propagation has been customarily by
seed sown in position, with thorny branches protecting the
young seedlings. However, today, young trees are usually grown
in nurseries. And there is intensified interest in vegetative
propagation of selected varieties because of the commercial
potential of tamarind products. The tree can be grown easily
from cuttings, or by shield-budding, side-veneer grafting,
or air-layering.
Tamarind Culture
Nursery-grown
trees are usually transplanted during the early rainy season.
If kept until the second rainy season, the plants must be
cut back and the taproot trimmed. Spacing may be 33 to 65
ft (10-20 m) between trees each way, depending on the fertility
of the soil. With sufficient water and regular weeding, the
seedlings will reach 2 ft (60 cm) the first year and 4 ft
(120 cm) by the second year.
In
Madagascar, seedlings have begun to bear in the 4th year;
in Mexico, usually in the 5th year; but in India, there may
be a delay of 10 to 14 years before fruiting. The tree bears
abundantly up to an age of 50-60 years or sometimes longer,
then productivity declines, though it may live another 150
years.
Tamarind Season
Mexican
studies reveal that the fruits begin to dehydrate 203 days
after fruit-set, losing approximately 1/2 moisture up to the
stage of full ripeness, about 245 days from fruit-set. In
Florida, Central America, and the West Indies, the flowers
appear in summer, the green fruits are found in December and
January and ripening takes place from April through June.
In Hawaii the fruits ripen in late summer and fall.
Tamarind Harvesting
Tamarinds
may be left on the tree for as long as 6 months after maturity
so that the moisture content will be reduced to 20% or lower.
Fruits for immediate processing are often harvested by pulling
the pod away from the stalk which is left with the long, longitudinal
fibers attached. In India, harvesters may merely shake the
branches to cause mature fruits to fall and they leave the
remainder to fall naturally when ripe. Pickers are not allowed
to knock the fruits off with poles as this would damage developing
leaves and flowers. To keep the fruit intact for marketing
fresh, the stalks must be clipped from the branches so as
not to damage the shell,
Tamarind Yield
A
mature tree may annually produce 330 to 500 lbs (150-225 kg)
of fruits, of which the pulp may constitute 30 to 55%, the
shells and fiber, 11 to 30 %, and the seeds, 33 to 40%.
Tamarind Keeping
Quality
To
preserve tamarinds for future use, they may be merely shelled,
layered with sugar in boxes or pressed into tight balls and
covered with cloth and kept in a cool, dry place. For shipment
to processors, tamarinds may be shelled, layered with sugar
in barrels and covered with boiling sirup. East Indians shell
the fruits and sprinkle them lightly with salt as a preservative.
In Java, the salted pulp is rolled into balls, steamed and
sun-dried, then exposed to dew for a week before being packed
in stone jars. In India, the pulp, with or without seeds and
fibers may be mixed with salt (10%), pounded into blocks,
wrapped in palmleaf matting, and packed in burlap sacks for
marketing. To store for long periods, the blocks of pulp may
be first steamed or sun-dried for several days.
Tamarind Pests
and Diseases
One
of the major pests of the tamarind tree in India is the Oriental
yellow scale, Aonidiella orientalis. Tamarind scale,
A. tamarindi, and black, or olive, scale, Saissetia
oleae, are also partial to tamarind but of less importance.
Butani (1970) lists 8 other scale species that may be found
on the tree, the young and adults sucking the sap of buds
and flowers and accordingly reducing the crop.
The
mealybug, Planococcus lilacinus, is a leading pest
of tamarind in India, causing leaf-fall and sometimes shedding
of young fruits. Another mealybug, Nipaecoccus viridis,
is less of a menace except in South India where it is
common on many fruit trees and ornamental plants. Chionaspis
acuminata-atricolor and Aspidiotus spp., suck the
sap of twigs and branches and the latter also feeds on young
fruits. White grubs of Holotrichia insularis may feed
on the roots of young seedlings. The nematodes, Xiphinema
citri and Longidorus elongatus may affect the roots
of older trees. Other predators attacking the leaves or flowers
include the caterpillars, Thosea aperiens, Thalarsodes
quadraria, Stauropus alternus, and Laspeyresia palamedes;
the black citrus aphid, Toxoptera aurantii, the
whitefly, Acaudaleyrodes rachispora; thrips, Ramaswamia
hiella subnudula, Scirtothrips dorsalis, and Haplothrips
ceylonicus; and cow bugs, Oxyrhachis tarandus, Otinotus
onerotus, and Laptoentrus
obliquis.
Fruit
borers include larvae of the cigarette beetle, Lasioderma
serricorne, also of Virachola isocrates, Dichocrocis
punctiferalis, Tribolium castaneum, Phycita orthoclina, Cryptophlebia
(Argyroploca) illepide, Oecadarchis sp., Holocera pulverea,
Assara albicostalis, Araecerus suturalis, Aephitobius laevigiatus,
and Aphomia gularis. The latter infests ripening
pods on the tree and persists in the stored fruits, as do
the tamarind beetle, Pachymerus (Coryoborus) gonogra, and
tamarind seed borer, Calandra (Sitophilus) linearis. The
rice weevil, Sitophilus oryzae, the rice moth, Corcyra
cepholonica, and the fig moth, Ephestia cautella, infest
the fruits in storage. The lesser grain borer, Rhyzopertha
dominica bores into stored seeds.
In
India, a bacterial leaf-spot may occur. Sooty mold is caused
by Meliola tamarindi. Rots attacking the tree include
saprot, Xylaria euglossa, brownish saprot, Polyporus
calcuttensis, and white rot, Trametes floccosa. The
separated pulp has good keeping quality but is subject to
various molds in refrigerated storage.
Tamarind Food
Uses
The
food uses of the tamarind are many. The tender, immature,
very sour pods are cooked as seasoning with rice, fish and
meats in India. The fully-grown, but still unripe fruits,
called "swells" in the Bahamas, are roasted in coals until
they burst and the skin is then peeled back and the sizzling
pulp dipped in wood ashes and eaten. The fully ripe, fresh
fruit is relished out-of-hand by children and adults, alike.
The dehydrated fruits are easily recognized when picking by
their comparatively light weight, hollow sound when tapped
and the cracking of the shell under gentle pressure.
The shell lifts readily from the pulp and the lengthwise fibers
are removed by holding the stem with one hand and slipping
the pulp downward with the other. The pulp is made into a
variety of products. It is an important ingredient in chutneys,
curries and sauces, including some brands of Worcestershire
and barbecue sauce, and in a special Indian seafood pickle
called "tamarind fish". Sugared tamarind pulp is often prepared
as a confection. For this purpose, it is desirable to separate
the pulp from the seeds without using water.
If ripe, fresh, undehydrated tamarinds are available, this
may be done by pressing the shelled and defibered fruits through
a colander while adding powdered sugar to the point where
the pulp no longer sticks to the fingers. The seeded pulp
is then shaped into balls and coated with powdered sugar.
If the tamarinds are dehydrated, it is less laborious to layer
the shelled fruits with granulated sugar in a stone crock
and bake in a moderately warm oven for about 4 hours until
the sugar is melted, then the mass is rubbed through a sieve,
mixed with sugar to a stiff paste, and formed into patties.
This sweetmeat is commonly found on the market in Jamaica,
Cuba and the Dominican Republic. In Panama, the pulp may be
sold in corn husks, palmleaf fiber baskets, or in plastic
bags.
Tamarind
ade has long been a popular drink in the Tropics and it is
now bottled in carbonated form in Guatemala, Mexico, Puerto
Rico and elsewhere. Formulas for the commercial production
of spiced tamarind beverages have been developed by technologists
in India. The simplest home method of preparing the ade is
to shell the fruits, place 3 or 4 in a bottle of water, let
stand for a short time, add a tablespoonful of sugar and shake
vigorously. For a richer beverage, a quantity of shelled tamarinds
may be covered with a hot sugar sirup and allowed to stand
several days (with or without the addition of seasonings such
as cloves, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, pepper or lime slices)
and finally diluted as desired with ice water and strained.
In
Brazil, a quantity of shelled fruits may be covered with cold
water and allowed to stand 10 to 12 hours, the seeds are strained
out, and a cup of sugar is added for every 2 cups of pulp;
the mixture is boiled for 15 to 20 minutes and then put up
in glass jars topped with paraffin. In another method, shelled
tamarinds with an equal quantity of sugar may be covered with
water and boiled for a few minutes until stirring shows that
the pulp has loosened from the seeds, then pressed through
a sieve.
The
strained pulp, much like apple butter in appearance, can be
stored under refrigeration for use in cold drinks or as a
sauce for meats and poultry, plain cakes or puddings. A foamy
"tamarind shake" is made by stirring this sauce into an equal
amount of dark-brown sugar and then adding a tablespoonful
of the mixture to 8 ounces of a plain carbonated beverage
and whipping it in an electric blender.
If
twice as much water as tamarinds is used in cooking, the strained
product will be a sirup rather than a sauce. Sometimes a little
soda is added. Tamarind sirup is bottled for domestic use
and export in Puerto Rico. In Mayaguez, street vendors sell
cones of shaved ice saturated with tamarind sirup. Tamarind
pulp can be made into a tart jelly, and tamarind jam is canned
commercially in Costa Rica. Tamarind sherbet and ice cream
are popular and refreshing. In making fruit preserves, tamarind
is sometimes combined with guava, papaya or banana. Sometimes
the fruit is made into wine.
Inasmuch
as shelling by hand is laborious and requires 8 man-hours
to produce 100 lbs (45 kg) of shelled fruits, food technologists
at the University of Puerto Rico have developed a method of
pulp extraction for industrial use. They found that shelling
by mechanical means alone is impossible because of the high
pectin and low moisture content of the pulp. Therefore, inspected
and washed pods are passed through a shell-breaking grater,
then fed into stainless steel tanks equipped with agitators.
Water is added at the ratio of 1:1 1/2 or 1:2 pulp/water,
and the fruits are agitated for 5 to 7 minutes. The resulting
mash is then passed through a screen while nylon brushes separate
the shells and seeds. Next the pulp is paddled through a finer
screen, pasteurized, and canned.
Young
leaves and very young seedlings and flowers are cooked and
eaten as greens and in curries in India. In Zimbabwe, the
leaves are added to soup and the flowers are an ingredient
in salads.
Tamarind
seeds have been used in a limited way as emergency food. They
are roasted, soaked to remove the seedcoat, then boiled or
fried, or ground to a flour or starch. Roasted seeds are ground
and used as a substitute for, or adulterant of, coffee. In
Thailand they are sold for this purpose. In the past, the
great bulk of seeds available as a by-product of processing
tamarinds, has gone to waste.
In 1942, two Indian scientists, T. P. Ghose and S. Krishna,
announced that the decorticated kernels contained 46 to 48%
of a gel-forming substance. Dr. G. R. Savur of the Pectin
Manufacturing Company, Bombay, patented a process for the
production of a purified product, called "Jellose", "polyose",
or "pectin", which has been found superior to fruit pectin
in the manufacture of jellies, jams, and marmalades. It can
be used in fruit preserving with or without acids and gelatinizes
with sugar concentrates even in cold water or milk. It is
recommended as a stabilizer in ice cream, mayonnaise and cheese
and as an ingredient or agent in a number of pharmaceutical
products.
Tamarind Food
Value
Analyses
of the pulp are many and varied. Roughly, they show the pulp
to be rich in calcium, phosphorus, iron, thiamine and riboflavin
and a good source of niacin. Ascorbic acid content is low
except in the peel of young green fruits.
Tamarind Other
Uses
Fruit
pulp: in West Africa, an infusion of the whole pods is
added to the dye when coloring goat hides. The fruit pulp
may be used as a fixative with turmeric or annatto in dyeing
and has served to coagulate rubber latex. The pulp, mixed
with sea water, cleans silver, copper and brass.
Tamarind Leaves:
The leaves are eaten by cattle and goats, and furnish
fodder for silkworms-Anaphe sp. in India, Hypsoides
vuilletii in West Africa. The fine silk is considered
superior for embroidery.
Tamarind
leaves and flowers are useful as mordants in dyeing. A yellow
dye derived from the leaves colors wool red and turns indigo-dyed
silk to green. Tamarind leaves in boiling water are employed
to bleach the leaves of the buri palm (Corypha elata Roxb.)
to prepare them for hat-making. The foliage is a common mulch
for tobacco plantings.
Tamarind Flowers:
The flowers are rated as a good source of nectar for honeybees
in South India. The honey is golden-yellow and slightly acid
in flavor.
Tamarind Seeds:
The powder made from tamarind kernels has been adopted
by the Indian textile industry as 300% more efficient and
more economical than cornstarch for sizing and finishing cotton,
jute and spun viscose, as well as having other technical advantages.
It is commonly used for dressing homemade blankets. Other
industrial uses include employment in color printing of textiles,
paper sizing, leather treating, the manufacture of a structural
plastic, a glue for wood, a stabilizer in bricks, a binder
in sawdust briquettes, and a thickener in some explosives.
It is exported to Japan, the United States, Canada and the
United Kingdom.
Tamarind
seeds yield an amber oil useful as an illuminant and as a
varnish especially preferred for painting dolls and idols.
The oil is said to be palatable and of culinary quality. The
tannin-rich seedcoat (testa) is under investigation as having
some utility as an adhesive for plywoods and in dyeing and
tanning, though it is of inferior quality and gives a red
hue to leather.
Tamarind Wood:
The sapwood of the tamarind tree is pale-yellow. The heartwood
is rather small, dark purplish-brown, very hard, heavy, strong,
durable and insect-resistant. It bends well and takes a good
polish and, while hard to work, it is highly prized for furniture,
panelling, wheels, axles, gears for mills, ploughs, planking
for sides of boats, wells, mallets, knife and tool handles,
rice pounders, mortars and pestles. It has at times been sold
as "Madeira mahogany".
Wide
boards are rare, despite the trunk dimensions of old trees,
since they tend to become hollow-centered. The wood is valued
for fuel, especially for brick kilns, for it gives off an
intense heat, and it also yields a charcoal for the manufacture
of gun-powder. In Malaysia, even though the trees are seldom
felled, they are frequently topped to obtain firewood. The
wood ashes are employed in tanning and in de-hairing goatskins.
Young stems and also slender roots of the tamarind tree are
fashioned into walking-sticks.
Tamarind Twigs
and barks: Tamarind twigs are sometimes used as "chewsticks"
and the bark of the tree as a masticatory, alone or in place
of lime with betelnut. The bark contains up to 7% tannin and
is often employed in tanning hides and in dyeing, and is burned
to make an ink. Bark from young trees yields a low-quality
fiber used for twine and string. Galls on the young branches
are used in tanning.
Tamarind Lac:
The tamarind tree is a host for the lac insect, Kerria
lacca, that deposits a resin on the twigs. The lac may
be harvested and sold as stick-lac for the production of lacquers
and varnish. If it is not seen as a useful byproduct, tamarind
growers trim off the resinous twigs and discard them.
Tamarind Medicinal
Uses:Medicinal uses of the tamarind are uncountable.
The pulp has been official in the British and American and
most other pharmacopoeias and some 200,000 lbs (90,000 kg)
of the shelled fruits have been annually imported into the
United States for the drug trade, primarily from the Lesser
Antilles and Mexico. The European supply has come largely
from Calcutta, Egypt and the Greater Antilles.
Tamarind preparations are universally recognized as refrigerants
in fevers and as laxatives and carminatives. Alone, or in
combination with lime juice, honey, milk, dates, spices or
camphor, the pulp is considered effective as a digestive,
even for elephants, and as a remedy for biliousness and bile
disorders, and as an antiscorbutic. In native practice, the
pulp is applied on inflammations, is used in a gargle for
sore throat and, mixed with salt, as a liniment for rheumatism.
It
is, further, administered to alleviate sunstroke, Datura
poisoning, and alcoholic intoxication. In Southeast Asia,
the fruit is prescribed to counteract the ill effects of overdoses
of false chaulmoogra, Hydnocarpus anthelmintica Pierre,
given in leprosy. The pulp is said to aid the restoration
of sensation in cases of paralysis. In Colombia, an ointment
made of tamarind pulp, butter, and other ingredients is used
to rid domestic animals of vermin.
Tamarind
leaves and flowers, dried or boiled, are used as poultices
for swollen joints, sprains and boils. Lotions and extracts
made from them are used in treating conjunctivitis, as antiseptics,
as vermifuges, treatments for dysentery, jaundice, erysipelas
and hemorrhoids and various other ailments.
The
fruit shells are burned and reduced to an alkaline ash which
enters into medicinal formulas. The bark of the tree is regarded
as an effective astringent, tonic and febrifuge. Fried with
salt and pulverized to an ash, it is given as a remedy for
indigestion and colic.
A
decoction is used in cases of gingivitis and asthma and eye
inflammations; and lotions and poultices made from the bark
are applied on open sores and caterpillar rashes. The powdered
seeds are made into a paste for drawing boils and, with or
without cumin seeds and palm sugar, are prescribed for chronic
diarrhea and dysentery. The seedcoat, too, is astringent,
and it, also, is specified for the latter disorders. An infusion
of the roots is believed to have curative value in chest complaints
and is an ingredient in prescriptions for leprosy.
The
leaves and roots contain the glycosides: vitexin, isovitexin,
orientin and isoorientin. The bark yields the alkaloid, hordenine.
Tamarind Superstitions
Few
plants will survive beneath a tamarind tree and there is a
superstition that it is harmful to sleep or to tie a horse
beneath one, probably because of the corrosive effect that
fallen leaves have on fabrics in damp weather. Some African
tribes venerate the tamarind tree as sacred. To certain Burmese,
the tree represents the dwelling-place of the rain god and
some hold the belief that the tree raises the temperature
in its immediate vicinity. Hindus may marry a tamarind tree
to a mango tree before eating the fruits of the latter. In
Nyasaland, tamarind bark soaked with corn is given to domestic
fowl in the belief that, if they stray or are stolen, it will
cause them to return home. In Malaya, a little tamarind and
coconut milk is placed in the mouth of an infant at birth,
and the bark and fruit are given to elephants to make them
wise.
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