tamarindipuu <p>Tamarind is cultivated both in home gardens and commercially on large scale. Commercial production is concentrated to Asia, Latin America and the United States. India is a major producer and exports tamarind to West Asia, Europe and America.</p> <p>A large evergreen tree up to 30 m tall, with dense widely spreading crown.<b></b></p> <p>The origin of the tamarind is in the Old World tropics, but exact area is uncertain as it has been widely cultivated since ancient times. Most likely it is indigenous to central and eastern Africa. Tamarind is spread throughout the tropics and&#xa0; subtropics between 20° S and N and is found in altitudes up to 1500 m.</p> Tamarindus indica L. 1509623620 <p>The genus <i>Tamarindus</i> is a monotypic taxon, having only a single species. As the dark brown pulp made from the fruit resembles dried dates, the Arabs called it ‘tamar-u’l-Hind’, meaning ‘date of India’, and this inspired Linnaeus when he named the tree in the 18th century.</p><p><b>Keywords:</b></p><p>Fruit, beverage, vegetable, timber/ wood, fuel, oil, ornamental, windbreak, shade, bee forage, dye, tannin, Fabaceae.</p> <p>Tamarind may be propagated by seeds and vegetatively. Seedlings are grown in nurseries and planted to orchards when they are about 70 cm tall. Commonly, the seedling takes 6-8 or up to 12 years to mature and yield fruit and thereafter the tree may continue to produce fruits each season for up to 60 years and be productive even for 200 years. Pods are harvested at different stages of maturity according to their intended use.</p> <p>Tamarind is self-sown wherever it grows and is often harvested from wild for domestic consumption. Naturalized tamarinds grow in low-altitude woodland, savanna, bush and wooded grasslands. They prefer semi-arid areas, and can also be found growing along stream and riverbanks. Tamarind grows well over a wide range of soil and climatic conditions, is resistant to drought and wind, tolerates fog and saline air in coastal districts, and even monsoon climates. In the wet tropics with annual rainfall above 4000 mm the tree does not flower. Swampy sites, stagnant water and dense rock are not suitable for tamarind. Young trees are killed by the slightest frost, but older trees can resist as cold as -3°C. A long, well-marked dry season is necessary for fruiting and wet conditions during the final stages of fruit development are detrimental. </p> <p>The bole is rounded and up to 8 m in circumference. Bark is rough, fissured, greyish-brown. Leaves are alternate, 5-12 cm long, compound with 10-18 pairs of opposite leaflets. Leaflets are 1.3-2 cm long, narrowly oblong with asymmetric bases and entire margins. Petiole and rachis are finely haired. Stipules fall very early. Flowers are in few-flowered up to about 20 cm long racemes. The flowers are about 2.5 cm across and have three yellow petals with a pattern of red veins as well as two tiny thread-like petals that are barely visible. Fruit is a velvety, rusty-brown, sausage-like, subcylindrical, indehiscent, straight or curved legume. It contains 3-10 seeds that are about 1.6 cm long, irregularly shaped, shiny, smooth and embedded in a sticky edible pulp.</p> <p>The sticky acidic pulp from the fruits has been used as a food ingredient for thousands of years. The fruits, and especially the pulp, can be eaten raw or used as an ingredient in curries, soups, pickles, sorbets, ice creams, candies, fermented drinks and juices. Tamarind is used extensively in Asian cooking. In Western cuisine, the fruit pulp is used in Worcestershire sauce and HP sauce. Tamarind wood is used as timber, firewood and for charcoal. Seed oil is used as a varnish, as lamp oil and in paints. Tamarinds are planted as ornamental shade trees on roadsides and as windbreak trees.Tamarind flowers are a good source of nectar for honeybees. Leaves yield a red dye. The bark tannins can be used in ink or for fixing dyes. </p>