While there are both sweet and sour varieties of tamarind, sour tamarind is by far the more popular fruit – comprising 95% of the world’s total production. Here are some more amazing facts about tamarind:

• Along with a 31% water content, it consists of simple sugars in a percentage of 57%, while dietary fibers, ash, proteins, and fats account for 5% of the total.
• Tamarind contains tartaric acid. This makes it an excellent agent for metal polishing for copper, bronze and brass vessels and utensils.
• In hens, tamarind has been found to lower cholesterol in their serum, and in the yolks of the eggs they laid.
• Despite being a fruit, the tamarind has a high proportion of calcium!
• Oil is extracted from the tamarind seeds and not from the pulp. It is possible to obtain from 7 to 10 g of oil from 100 g of seeds.
• 100 g of tamarind pulp contains 239 kcal.