Tamarind Syrup

500 g of shelled tamarinds

200 g sugar

water to boil the tamarinds

Method

Boil the tamarinds and throw out the water. Repeat this process 3 or 4 times according to how much acid you want to leave in the final product. You can taste the hot tamarind each time you boil and wash out. An alternative method is to soak the tamarinds for a day or two changing the water regularly.

Add sugar to the tamarind pulp and still and boil on low heat for 20 mins. Cool and store in a sterile jar.

 Note

On Tamarind Syrup: It is good at both room temperature or chilled in the fridge. If you have sugar cane syrup you can add tamarinds without soaking to this sugar can syrup and store for many years. The acid and the sweetness from the cane syrup would marry and you would have a lovely tasting treat. I find when you overcook and over wash your tamarinds the syrup just taste like sugar. I usually wash mine 3 times maximum and leave some of the acid in or I search for sweeter tamarinds.Overcooking the tamarinds to get the acid out could result in the seed sticking to the casing. I think the Asian variety would make lovely syrup. You can remove all of the seeds with a knife and patience or you  strain this syrup so that is seedless. In Barbados they eat this with the seeds as a sweet snack but in the future I would make some without the seeds for cooking.I like to use Barbados brown sugar for making tamarind balls are it is very delicate and not to finely packed. I did not have Barbadian sugar for these recipes today so I use regular brown sugar. I used this sugar last year with some tamarind balls and I loved the result. It is a little pricey but it is quality product from Barbados and they said it is made from younger sugar canes and it is milled so it is less processed. I think all of Barbados sugar is vegan as I asked before but I would double check but I am almost 100% sure it is.

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