The tamarind is one of the great shade trees of the dry tropics, tall and rounded with foliage so fine it looks like green smoke. Under it in the dry season the ground is covered in curved brown pods that crack open to a sticky dark pulp.
Where you’ll see it
Town squares, gardens, pasture and roadsides across Guanacaste. Old ones are landmarks. Tamarindo, the town, is named for them.
What to know
The pulp inside the pod is sour, sweet and sticky, and it goes into the ubiquitous fresco de tamarindo, into sauces, into sweets rolled with sugar and chilli, and into Worcestershire sauce, which surprises people. Eat it straight from the pod around the seeds. Eat a great deal of it and you will discover it is also a laxative, which is worth knowing before rather than after.
