Welcome to another edition of Wednesdays with…Today my guest poster is Michelle Contreras, food blogger over at A Recipe Junkie. I met Michelle while on a trip to Miami and we went out for pizza at a local place. We talked for hours, laughing at our antics and crazy ways as Dominicans, and of course, chatted about our food blogs! Today, she is sharing a recipe using on of my favorite fruits, Tamarind. Used on a daily basis in the Dominican Republic, Tamarind isn’t easily found fresh here in the Northeast but I’ve purchased the paste from My Spice Sage before. So read along and enjoy Michelle’s post! Follow her on Twitter and check out her Facebook page!
I was so excited when Nelly approached me to be part of her “Wednesdays with” stories. I met Ms. Nelly one year ago, she was my first food blogger meet up. I had just started blogging a few months before, and had started my twitter account. Nelly and I got to chatting and a few months later she went to Miami to visit family. The stars had alined, we had to meet up!! It was perfect, we just chatted the night away. So happy to have met Nelly and thrilled to be here with you.
I really was going to name this post “Jugo de Tamarindo” which is just the spanish translation of this, but it’s how I know it. Would you not have expected this little gem in Dominican Republic? Well, our history has a lot of different branches which has provided for a wide range of cuisine. This is one of them, there are Tamarind sweets, but the juice is my fav. Whenever we would visit local bakeries in Miami and I spotted this juice, I had to have a nice iced glass. This was always true when we would visit “El Palacio de los Jugos” (The Palace of Juices) in Miami, oh how I miss that place. Every time, no matter what I got, I had to walk out with this drink. I knew it could be made at home, but had never made it before until now.
If you have never tasted Tamarind, it has a slight tart yet sweet taste. It is encased in a hard shell and the meat of the fruit is attached to the skin and seeds. You can purchase Tamarind paste and save the trouble of cracking these babies, but wheres the fun in that. The easiest thing I found was to crack open the Tamarind shells and just drop the pod in a bowl of water. The pods do look a little funny, but it’s so worth the fruit. Make sure to have this drink iced cold. To me it just makes it even more refreshing.
Tamarind Juice
Print RecipeIngredients
- 1 lb of Tamarind in shell
- 2 cups of water
- 1 cup of sugar
Instructions
- Add the 2 cups of water in a large mixing bowl. Shell the Tamarinds, make sure to remove the veins. Only keep the pods with the "sticky" fruit and place them in the water, let them sit for 2 hours.
- Occasionally stir the water and sort of rub the pods while emerged. The fruit of the Tamarind will melt into the water, leaving only the seeds covered in their skins.
- Strain the water into another bowl after the has passed. Add the sugar, mix and taste. Add additional sugar if you please.
- Pour into a pitcher or bottles and place in the fridge for at least 3 hours. If you can't wait, just pour this juice over ice. The juice will keep for a week in the fridge, be sure to stir/shake before serving.
Servings: 4 servings
Enjoy
~M
Love Michelle!
I don’t know if I’ve ever had tamarind before…now I am curious! Is that weird considering I live in South Florida?
Oh I love this! We also use Tamarind a lot in Filipino cooking, in desserts and snacks. We can buy a large chunk of tamarind paste, as big as a brick, from the Asian grocery. Just last weekend my son Tim used it as a sauce base for beef. But this drink is amazing. I can think of so many sweets and desserts that can come from this. Glad you shared us some tamarind-love. Thanks, Michelle! Thanks, Nelly!
I don’t think I’ve ever seen fresh tamarind…I’m intrigued! Sounds like such a tasty drink for a hot day.
Interesting way of making tamarind juice! I never saw the fruit here, so I guess it´s hard to find, but will definitely try to.
Es una delicia de jugo!
Saludos 🙂
The other day I was looking at Tamerind, and wandering what to make with it. AND then I read this fun guest post!!! I will have to try it now, it sounds like a treat I would love:-) Hugs, Terra
Yay for collaborations!
I have seen tamerind before in the grocery store but never knew what to do with it. so cool