The Tamarind fruit has a fleshy, juicy acidulous pulp.  It is best described as sweet and sour in taste.  It’s high in tartaric acid, sugar, B vitamins and, oddly for a fruit, calcium.  Tamarind is commonly used in cuisines all around the world, such as those of Africa, Asia and Mexico!

Okay, that was the serious bit.  Now down to cakes!!

Well, I’d bought a jar of Tamarind paste ages ago for some savoury Thai dishes I think.  And I hadn’t got round to using it.  Then I saw at Christmas that some fruitcakes include a spoon or so of Tamarind paste!!  Hmm, interesting I thought.  So the other day when I ran out of cinammon powder I broke out the Tamarind paste as a substitute!!!  Yeah, totally different I know! 🙂

It was great in carrot cake and Chinese 5 spices Apple tarte tatin.  Tamarind paste seems to work well if there’s a slightly savoury element to your cake or dried fruit, and as a replacement or complement to citric fruit such as lemons or oranges.

Any other ideas? 🙂