I posted a picture of Manila tamarind from the recent Kaset Fair on Facebook, and was surprised at the response it received from my Filipino friends. Many were nostalgic for the fruit, and lamented that they haven’t tasted it for decades. Many of my friends and former classmates have migrated to various parts of the world, so this is understandable; the fruit is seasonal and no one has found a way to preserve it. Unless they visit the Philippines or Thailand when it is in season, they won’t be able to eat it. What is surprising is that even those who live in the Philippines said they haven’t seen it for years.
When I was in grade school, Manila tamarind (Pithecellobium dulce), known as makham thet in Thai, was the most common tree along provincial roads in the Philippines. The trees have thorns and grow to the height of a two-storey house or more, with wide, spreading branches, and my friends and I would use a long bamboo pole to get at the fruit, which comes as a turgid pod curled up in a spiral and turns from green to red when it is ripe. The pod pops open on the tree when it is fully ripe and ready to eat, revealing white or reddish pink, spongy and rather dry edible pulp surrounding flat, shiny black seeds. The pulp is only mildly sweet, sometimes even astringent, but Filipino children loved it and generation after generation grew up eating it.
taste of nostalgia: Apart from its nutritive value, the Manila tamarind has been found to have anti-diabetic properties and other medicinal uses.
Once my friends and I had eaten the fruit, we would peel the black coating of the seed carefully to uncover a second layer of thin, brown skin. We were told that if we could successfully peel the seed without tearing the brown skin and then bury it, the seed would turn to a five-centavo coin the next day. Removing the black outer skin without tearing the second layer of brown skin needed skill and I seldom managed to do it, but not even once did my friends, who were more adept at it, find any coins where they buried the seeds. Undeterred, we kept on peeling the seeds anyway, for fun. In those days, there were no computer games or Facebook to occupy our time.
Despite its common name, Manila tamarind is not native to the Philippines nor is it a kind of tamarind, although both species belong to the Fabaceae family of plants. Manila tamarind, also known as camachile, originated from Central America and was introduced by Spanish colonisers to the Philippines, where it was naturalised and widely distributed, although nowhere was it commercially grown. The tree also found its way to Indonesia, Malaysia, India and Thailand; here it was not commercially grown either until some 10 years ago, when an improved variety came up in the form of medium-sized trees bearing bigger fruit with sweet and thick, nutty pulp.
grown up: Manila tamarind trees tower over a fence in Amphawa district, Samut Songkhram. Photos : NORMITA THONGTHAM
The new variety could have been the result of mutation, which the Oxford Science Dictionary defines as a sudden random change in the genetic material of a cell that may cause it and all cells derived from it to differ in appearance or behaviour from the normal type. The mutation proved to be a boon to Thai orchard growers, who began cultivating the new variety. It was only when the fruit became available on the local market that I tasted this reminder of my childhood for the first time after more than 30 years in Thailand.
Manila tamarind can be easily propagated from seeds; trees grow very fast in any type of soil and full sun and bear fruit in five years. Thai growers, however, use grafting or budding to ensure that the plant is true to type, that is, it has the same good qualities as the mother plant. As the Thai variety improved, the Philippine variety started to disappear as increase in population displaced the Manila tamarind from people’s yards and mahogany and gmelina replaced them as roadside trees. This is a pity, as apart from fruit that children loved, the Manila tamarind has many uses. The tree can be a steady source of fuel as cut branches readily re-grow in just a few months, and despite the thorns I have seen goats feeding on the leaves of young trees.
Manila tamarind is also said to have medicinal uses. Apart from its nutritive value, the edible fruit has been widely used traditionally to combat gastric problems. Decoction of the bark, drank as tea, has been used to cure dysentery, and as an astringent for dermatitis and eye inflammation. The leaves have been found to have astringent and anti-inflammatory properties; a compress made from pounded leaves heals wounds and relieves pain, and is also reported to cure genital herpes. The fruit has also been reported to have anti-tumour properties, and researchers from the University of Madras in India found the fruit extract to be effective against diabetes.
Manila tamarind is not the tree to plant if you have a small yard. However, you can avail yourself of the fruit as it is now in season. n
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