How To Make Tamarind Paste

Making Tamarind Paste at home is simple and better without any preservatives. Use it to make candies, paletas, margaritas, agua fresca and more!

Course Sauces

Cuisine Mexican

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 5

Total Time 20

Servings cups

Calories 37kcal

Remove the skin from tamarinds along with any big strings attached to the fruit. Cut each tamarind into several pieces with your hands
Rinse quickly on a colander with cold water to remove any dusty spots.
Place in a medium bowl and add 2 cups of hot water. Cover with a lid or a plate and let it rest for 10 minutes.
In another medium bowl, place a strainer and add the tamarinds with the cooked water. Mash it with a spatula or your clean hands to squeeze the juice/pulp out of the seeds and the hard fiber. Push down the pulp thru the strainer to extract all of the tamarind pulp.
Add a little more water at the time (no more than 1 cup water) to strain any remaining pulp. Scrape off any pulp attached to the outside/bottom of the strainer. Discard the tamarind fiber and seeds.
In a medium sauce pan, add the tamarind pulp from the bowl.
Bring to a soft boil and then lower heat to medium low. Cook for 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and let it cool down completely.
Store in glass jars with an airtight lid in refrigerator. Keeps for 1 month in fridge and up to 6 months in freezer.