I fell in love with tamarind in Vietnam in 2005.
The fruit is hard to describe. Imagine a pea pod that is hard, brown and crisp dry; inside is fruit the consistency of raisins held together by several fibrous strings that run from one end of the pod to the other.
Doesn’t sound very appetizing does it? It is in fact quite tasty. And like many things, it’s made even more exciting (and shelf-stable) when the inner fruit is extracted and fortified with sugar, salt and chili. Some batches have more chili than others. Some bites have more chili than others. That’s part of the fun.
Lucky for me, Pearl River Market sells this delicacy for just $1.60. Of course, in Vietnam the same portion would probably cost 2000D or $0.13. But the plane ticket would be a little more than the difference.