The Tamarind is a long bean-like pod that belongs to the vegetable order, but is treated like a fruit. Its name is derived from the Arabic tamar, meaning a dry date fruit. It was the Arabs in India who gave the name of tamar-hindi to this tree. Tamarind is green when immature and when it matures, it becomes fatter and changes color to a sandy brown.

The flesh of the fruit consists of dry, sticky, dark brown pulp and inside the pulp are shiny black seeds. It is this pulp that people eat to get all the nutritional and health benefits of the tamarind. The pulp of the tamarind has a very sour taste while it is young, but as it ripens the pulp gets sweeter. Though the pulp will sweeten with age, the tamarind generally has a sour, acidic taste. The sour taste of tamarind is the favorite flavoring for a host of fish and curry dishes.