Tamarind Juice gives gentle, extra-sour flavor to foods, which we can’t get from vinegar, lemon, or lime juices. If you are wondering what makes Thai foods taste extra good, Tamarind Juice is one of the secret ingredients behind the scenes.

Besides adding extra wonderful tase to foods, tamarind has so many health benefits you can get from eating it too. I have been noticing that Tamarind Juice has become more popular nowadays, and I see it on the shelf in most non-asian grocery stores.

Unfortunately, most of it comes in plastic containers with some preservatives in it. If you want to reduce plastic, and chemical use, making you own Tamarind Juice is a better way of cooking.

However, you still have to get tamarind meat of the fruit from somewhere else if it can’t grow in your area, but to me, that’s still better. When you have the tamarind meat, it’s so easy to turn  into juice. Let me show you how!

Things you need to make Tamarind Juice:

1. Tamarind meat.
2. Water.
3. A strainer, a bowl, and a jar to keep the Tamarind Juice in.

How:

1. Cut the amount of the tamarind meat you want to work with. If you plan on using a lot for your cooking, just make more. (in the video, I’m showing you to make just a little bit)
2. Put the tamarind meat in a bowl, and cover it with very warm water. If you want the juice to be thin, just put more water in. I like to put water to just cover the meat as it’s easier to thin it later if the juice is thick, but it’s harder to make it thick if you put too much water in.
3. When the meat looks soft, smash and strain it.
4. Repeat it one more time, and it’s done.
5. Store in a glass jar and keep it in the fridge.
6. Now, you can use it according to the recipes you want. Easy, isn’t it?

Have you made your own Tamarind Juice before? Share it with me–I’d like to hear about it!