Velvet tamarind
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Velvet tamarind | ||||||||||||||||
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| Dialium indum L. |
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Dialium cochinchinense Pierre |
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Velvet tamarind, Dialium indum, is a tall, tropical, fruit-bearing tree, native to southern Thailand and Malaysia. It belongs to the Leguminosae family, and has small, typically grape-sized edible fruits with brown hard inedible shells. Due to its valued hard and compact wood, it is a threatened species, with its habitat being encroached upon by logging and human settlement. No reports of cultivation exist, information on propagation is limited.
The flavor of the fruit is similar to tamarind, where it derives its English name. In Thai, it is called "Luk Yee" or "Yee", and in Malaysia it goes by the name of "Keranji". The fruit is used as a candy-like snack food in Thailand, often dried, sugar-coated and spiced with chili. The dried fruit has a powdery texture, and is orange in color with a tangy flavor.
Each fruit typically has one hard, flat, round, brown seed, typically 7-8 millimeters across and 3 millimeters thick. The seed somewhat resembles a watermelon seed (Citrullus lanatus). Some have two seeds. The seeds are shiny, coated with a thin layer of starch.
In Sarawak, Malaysia there are at least two varieties for sale in the local markets. Both have the same thin black brittle shell, and appear to be naturally dry unlike most fruits. One smaller kind is about one inch = 25 mm long and have a reddish brown powder lightly packed around the single seed, with a small air space within the shell. This powder tastes sweet and sour just like the candy "sweet-tarts", and is thus closest to the tamarind. The second are bigger, about 1 1/2 inch (38mm) long and look the same outside but are pretty different inside. There is more empty space in these and the pulp is 2-3mm thick around the seed (sometimes 2 seeds), brown and a bit sticky, and tastes like a mixture of three parts good date, one part raisins, and one part wheat flour. There is locally also at least one more wild keranji, which is also of the powder sort, but too acid to enjoy.
