Tamarind
Tamarind, which belongs to the Fabaceae family, is a sweet
and delicious fruit. It has been used for multiple purposes, including both
culinary and medicinal ones, for such a long time. Tamarind is well known for
its bushy tree along with evergreen leaves and fruits. People often see
tamarind tree develop in pods characterized by brown and long shells. Inside
the fruit is a fleshy, sticky, and juicy pulp, where most of the nutrients
concentrate. Actually, the fact that tamarind has both sweet and sour taste
makes people really like tamarind fruit.
However, many people just eat the fruit without perceiving
the great benefits of tamarind. Hence, its uses are limited as a kitchen staple
only. As said before, tamarind, for a long time, has been used for medicinal
purposes as well; it thus brings us to conduct a new article that presents the
benefits of tamarind fruit & juice for both health and beauty.
Health & Beauty Benefits of Tamarind Fruit & Juice
What Is the Nutritional Value of Tamarind?
Tamarind Nutrition
Although tamarind fruit is quite small in comparison with
other fruits, it contains a remarkable quantity of nutrients, in general. It is
not overstated if we say that tamarind fruit is a small powerhouse of vitamins
and minerals. Researchers also consider it as an ace nutrition-wise.
In fact, in every 100-gram serving of tamarind, we are
served with up to 628 milligrams potassium and 28 milligrams sodium. You are
also supplied with 36% and 23% of the daily recommended amount of thiamine and
magnesium, respectively. Nutritionists pointed out that iron and phosphorus
contained in tamarind also account for up to 35% and 16% of the daily
requirement. These figures have confirmed the great potential benefits of
tamarind that will be released and explained in the next part of the article.
Additionally, this sweet and sour fruit is loaded with niacin, vitamin C,
copper, calcium, and pyridoxine as well.
Do you know that tamarind contains a significant amount of
tartaric acid? Actually, scientists have shown that this powerful antioxidant
is carried by tamarind fruit can help to scavenge the harmful factor named free
radicals, which have the ability to convert your healthy cells into cancerous
ones. Also, the other phytochemicals included in tamarind are limonene,
safrole, cinnamic acid, methyl salicylate, geraniol, pyrazine, and alkyl
thiazoles.
In specific, a cup of tamarind serves you about 6.88 grams
natural sugars, 0.72 grams fat, 287 calories, and 3.36 grams protein. 6.1 out
of 100 grams of tamarind are fiber content, which will create the benefits of
tamarind for digestion.
What Are the Health Benefits of Tamarind?
Health Benefits Of Tamarind
1. Good for Digestion
One of the most visible and valuable benefits of tamarind
fruit & juice is its ability to boost your digestion health. Generally,
tamarind is considered as a natural laxative thanks to the dietary fiber
content. As you know, fiber is able to bulk up the digestive stool, thereby
making it smoothly move through the intestinal tract. For such a reason, you
are supposed to consume tamarind as a fruit or s spice to increase the
efficiency of the digestive process. Moreover, tamarind fruit can act as a
bilious substance to stimulate the function of bile. In turn, that helps to dissolve
food faster and speed up digestion. These facts specify the great benefits of
tamarind for your digestion.
In short, things will run through the digestive tract faster
and faster thanks to the tamarind consumption. As a result, if you suffer from chronic
constipation, tamarind will be a powerful laxative, not a bad solution. Oddly
enough, studies also pointed out that tamarind could be an effective weapon to
fight against chronic diarrhea.
All of the information above gives us a consensus conclusion
that the benefits of tamarind for the digestion health are significant.
Therefore, adding it to your diet if you have some problems with your digestive
system is usually recommended.
2. Controls Cholesterol Levels
Another of health benefits of tamarind is controlling the
level of cholesterol in your body. As you can see, unhealthy cholesterol is
considered as an enemy of your heart health, which increases the risk of heart
diseases, actually. Therefore, managing cholesterol levels is an essential task
of your body. In general, we suggest you use tamarind as an additional solution
for this issue.
The tasty tamarind has an indirect but important effect on
the cholesterol levels, which is based on the high fiber content attached.
Fiber included in this fruit binds to bile salts that are formed from
cholesterol, thus, decreases its reabsorption. As a result, that helps excrete
unhealthy cholesterol so that it keeps your heart healthier. People who are
from 25 to 50 years old should not ignore our recommendation about the benefits
of tamarinds. Actually, they are the ones who have more chance to suffer from
heart diseases caused by a high level of excess cholesterol. Food choices are
always the main reasons leading to this issue, thereby paying attention to your
daily diet. Adding tamarind fruits to your diet in a proper way is not a bad
suggestion.
A recipe with tamarind will be released right now.
Ingredients: (for 8 servings)
- Tamarind pulp including seeds: 1 pound
- 18 Pitted Medjool dates
- Superfine sugar: 1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons
Method:
- Combine tamarind pulp, dates, and 2.5 quarts of water in a pot and boil it up. Then simmer briskly, stirring often
- Mashing tamarind and dates until they break down
- After 15 minutes, turn off the heat and steep for 2 hours
- Use a fine-mesh sieve to strain the mixture. Pressing on the remaining solid parts to get the liquid as much as possible
- Then transfer tamarind to a pitcher. Add sugar and about 3 cups of water. Chill it until cold
- Add some ice cubes and enjoy
3. Good for Blood Circulation and Purification
Benefits of tamarind are various in addition to its good
effects on controlling the level of cholesterol. Cardiologists have also
pointed out that blood circulation and purification can be improved if you
consume tamarind in a proper way and frequency.
On the one hand, the benefits of tamarind for blood purification
are based on the high concentration of minerals, fiber, and vitamin C. In other
words, the antioxidants contained in tamarinds can actively scavenge free
radicals. Therefore, it helps to oxidize and purify your blood.
On the other hand, we say that this pulpy and tasty fruit
has good effects on your blood circulation as well thanks to its good source of
iron. Actually, 10% of the daily-recommended amount of iron intake can be
served by one serving of tamarind. The figure shows how much iron is contained
in tamarind, which indirectly confirms the great benefits of tamarind for red
blood cells in your body. If you can supply yourself a sufficient amount of
iron by eating iron-rich foods, including tamarind, you might be guaranteed the
appropriate oxygenation of different organs and muscles to perform properly. In
contrast, if you experience an iron deficiency, you might get more risk of
anemia, headaches, cognitive disorders, and so on.
Summarily, you are advised to consume tamarind more
regularly to reach the benefits of tamarind for your blood circulation as well
as purification. You can add tamarind to your diet by the following method.
Recipe: Grilled Tamarind Soy Denver Stakes
Ingredients:
- Tamarind chutney or puree: 2 tablespoons
- Boneless Denver stakes: 4
- Low sodium soy sauce: 1/4 cup
- Honey: 2 tablespoons
- Grated ginger: 1 tablespoon
- Minced garlic: half a teaspoon
- Sesame oil: 2 teaspoons
- Chile-garlic sauce: 1.5 teaspoons
- Pepper and salt
- Vegetable oil
Method:
- In a plastic bag, mix tamarind, soy sauce, honey, ginger, garlic, sesame oil, and chili sauce. Add salt and ground pepper to taste. Then shake to combine all the ingredients
- Now add four stakes and seal, pressing out extra air
- Place it in the fridge for 4 hours
- Light a grill and grease the grates
- Grill the stakes, turning occasionally and brushing with the remaining marinade for 20 minutes
- After stakes turn brown, transfer it to a cutting board, and slice across the grain
4. Treats Piles
Have you used tamarind fruit to treat piles? It seems that
not many people know these benefits of tamarind. It would be a pity if you
still do not know about this.
As you may know, piles are considered as a truckload of
pain. People who have to live with piles are not able to sit or move freely
without certain pain. Fortunately, one of the health benefits of tamarind is to
act as a natural home remedy for piles. In fact, people herbalists use the
extracted juice from tamarind flowers to treat piles. Here is one of the
methods that you can apply.
Ingredients:
- Tamarind flower extract: 1.5 tablespoons
- Ginger: 1 teaspoon
- Fresh yogurt: 1 glass
- Pomegranate: 1 teaspoon
- Coriander powder: 1 teaspoon
Method:
- Combine all the ingredients together
- Have this concoction with every lunch until the symptoms subside
5. Benefits of Tamarind For Weight Loss
As good news for women, tamarind can be a good supporter
for your weight loss. Actually, the tasty tamarind can help you reduce a few
pounds, not too many but still effective.
It is because of the unique compounds named hydroxy citric
acid (HCA), which is extracted from tamarind fruit; otherwise, you can gain
these benefits of tamarind when you use it as a spice. HCA is proved to have a
close link to weight loss due to its ability to inhibit an enzyme that helps
store fat. Moreover, owing to the ability to increase the serotonin
neurotransmitter, tamarinds contribute to suppressing your appetite. As a
result, you can reduce your desire to eat, and you thus have a chance to reduce
the food intake. Although researchers are still carrying out research to
investigate more about the benefits of tamarind for weight loss, you can
believe in promising signs that have been shown up to now.
6. Treating Jaundice
Not only can tamarind treat piles but also jaundice that is
known as a liver-related problem. People who are suffering from jaundice are
diagnosed to have much less amount of RBCs than the amount of bilirubin, which
is a yellow chemical released by the organ, present in the liver. The elevated
level of bilirubin can lead to yellow skin, eyes, and urine. Thankfully,
tamarind can work in this case. Among the health benefits of tamarind, treating
jaundice is also effective. Tamarind can help maintain your liver health by
regulating the proper level of bilirubin; thus, reduce the risk of jaundice as
well. You can refer to the following recipe with this natural home remedy.
Ingredients:
- Tamarind pulp: 100 grams
- Plum: 50 grams
- Dry lily flower: 50 grams
- Dry coriander seeds: 50 grams
- A clay pot
- Candy sugar to taste
- Water: 4 liters
Method:
- Put all the ingredients in the pot
- Pour water into the pot and leave it a night
- The day after, you mix the ingredients well and strain the juice. Store it in an airtight container
- Have this drink every morning in one week. Add some candy sugar for taste.
7. Manages Diabetes
Another of health benefits of tamarind is to manage
diabetes. As mentioned, tamarind fruit can help to lose weight by inhibiting an
enzyme helping store fat. Actually, inhibiting this enzyme can stop absorbing
carbohydrates, the main ingredient to convert into fats or simple sugars.
Diabetic patients have to avoid a carbohydrate-heavy diet because it will
increase the risk of uncontrolled insulin and glucose levels, which is
considered as the most dangerous issue for them. You should concern with the
benefits of tamarind for diabetes because it can monitor and control the
fluctuations in glucose and insulin levels effectively.
8. Boosts Immune System
Another of the health benefits of tamarind that we also
highly appreciate is its ability to boost your immune system. As you know,
tamarind is well known for its sour taste, thus, it might contain vitamin C, in
accordance with what we can guess. In fact, tamarind serves a high amount of
vitamin C and other antioxidants, which make this fruit powerful to boost the
immunity. Furthermore, it guarantees long-term health from fungal and microbial
infections. It lowers the occurrence of parasites due to the strong antiseptic
and antimicrobial impacts. Especially, in the tropical areas where people
cultivate tamarind trees, scientists have found a close link between tamarind
and eliminated stomach worms in kids there. These facts show us how beneficial
tamarind can be for our health. Therefore, do not skip the great benefits of
tamarind.
9. Treats Constipation: Natural Laxative
Besides, tamarind fruit can help to treat constipation.
As you know, constipation commonly happens in many people, which is very
annoying and makes you feel extremely irritated, stuffed, and bloated at the
same time. You may find churns as your solution whenever you get constipation,
but nothing can work better than a natural home remedy. Instead of churn, why
don’t you use tamarind as your treatment?
According to researchers, tamarind can be utilized as a mild
laxative, as mentioned. It is among the digestive benefits of tamarind.
Particularly, the sticky pulp of tamarind supplies a significant amount of
fiber and non-starch polysaccharides [1]. Hence, it helps
reduce constipation, in short.
10. Improves Nerve Function
Last but not least, the benefits of tamarind fruit &
juice for our nerve function should not be skipped, anyway. We always want a
better cognitive function, especially when we have higher ages. A natural
ingredient to achieve that is also worthy. Our beloved tamarind will be a
suggestion. Thanks to a high concentration of thiamine, tamarind works well to
improve the nerve function as well as memory, generally. So, include it in your
diet regularly.
How to Use Tamarind for Skin Care?
Skin Benefits Of Tamarind
1. Lightens Skin Complexion
Do you know that tamarind can lighten your skin?
Surprisingly, skin care experts have found that tamarind could be a great
ingredient to take care of your skin in case of prolonged exposing to
the sun, dust, and pollution. If you experience those things, you can have so
many skin problems such as clogged pores, dull, and dry skin, tanning, uneven
complexion, an extra. You can make use of tamarind fruit to get rid of these
issues and gain back your fresh skin.
Ingredients:
- Tamarind pulp: 30 grams
- How water: 150 grams
- Turmeric powder: half a teaspoon
Method:
- Soak tamarind pulp in 150 grams of hot water. Let it be for 10 minutes
- Then extract the pulp. Combine with turmeric powder
- Apply the solution to your skin and maintain for 15 minutes
- Rinse off with water
- Repeat the process twice a week to lighten your skin
2. Exfoliates The Skin
Instead of spending money on costly cosmetics, why don’t you
put a little effort and time to turn natural ingredients into your own beauty
care product? Tamarind can perfectly help you. Among the skin benefits of
tamarind, exfoliating skin is also effective.
This sweet and sour fruit is a rich source of alpha hydroxy
acids [2], which is found in many leading exfoliating creams in
the market that you often spend money on. They get rid of the dirt as well as
impurities that are present deep inside your skin surface. Also, it helps
unclog the skin pores. Thanks for that, tamarind can act as a natural, safe,
and effective exfoliating agent for your own. We are glad to suggest you a face
mask recipe with tamarind pulp, which will help you to exfoliate your skin.
Ingredients:
- Tamarind pulp: 1 teaspoon
- Milk cream or yogurt: 1 tablespoon
- Rock salt: 1 teaspoon
Method:
- Combine tamarind pulp with rock salt and milk cream or yogurt. Mix them well.
- Apply the solution on your face. Gently massage in circular motions with your fingertips. Keep doing for 5-7 minutes
- Do this twice a week to have the dirt-free skin
- Note: milk cream is suggested for dry skin while yogurt is for oily skin. You should be based on your skin and select the proper ingredient between them.
3. Fights Aging Process
In addition to acting as a natural anti aging and exfoliating skin agent,
tamarind can be a safe and natural anti-aging agent as well. If you want your
skin to remain ageless without aging signals, you should not skip this
information.
Women will love these benefits of tamarind fruit for the
skin. This fruit is fully loaded with many antioxidants, acids, fiber,
essential vitamins that have the ability to combat the free radicals, as said
before. Actually, free radicals are the main cause of not only cancers but also
the aging skin. Because of the benefits of tamarind for the anti-aging process
are really outstanding, we will offer you a simple recipe to make your homemade
face mask with this natural remedy.
Ingredients:
- Tamarind pulp: 1 tablespoon
- Semolina: 1 teaspoon
- Honey: 1 teaspoon
- Flour: 1 tablespoon
Method:
- Combine all ingredients to make a fine paste
- Apply the solution to your face and stay for 10 minutes to let it dry
- Then wipe off the pack with a soft sponge
- Rinse off your face with water and pat it dry
- Do this twice a week to maintain your ageless skin
4. Treats Acne
Acne is really a big problem like a mutual nightmare for all
young girls. Getting rid of acne as well as acne scars is not an easy task.
Using some skin care products seems to be quite effective, but it can result in
some other side effects as well. Therefore, you can seek for a natural home
remedy like tamarind fruit in order to keep your skin safe and healthy. The
remarkable concentration of vitamin A, C, and various antioxidants, contained
in tamarinds are fundamental for these benefits of tamarind for acne and pimple
treatment.
Another recipe will be introduced right now.
Ingredients:
- Tamarind extract: 1 tablespoon
- Yogurt: 1 tablespoon
- Turmeric powder: half a teaspoon
Method:
- Combine tamarind, yogurt, and turmeric powder to make a paste
- Apply the mixture to your face and wait until it dries for 15-20 minutes
- Rinse off with lukewarm water and moisturize your skin
- Repeat the process on a weekly basis
5. Removes Dark Patches Around Neck
Removing dark patches around your neck is the next one on
the list of skin benefits of tamarind fruit & juice. Here is the effective
recipe that you can apply.
Ingredients:
- Tamarind concentrate: 1 teaspoon
- Rosewater: 1 teaspoon
- Organic honey: 1 teaspoon
Method:
- Combine all the ingredients together to make a paste
- Apply the mixture to your neck and maintain for 20 minutes
- Rinse off with warm water or rose water
- Keep doing this on a weekly basis for two months
6. Moisturize and Tones The Skin
Besides five main skin benefits of tamarind, this fruit can
act as a natural moisturizer and toner for your skin. Especially, in the
winter, you are more likely to suffer from patchy, fine lines, scaly skin,
coarse and dull skin, skin tightness, and cold sores, which require you to an
effective moisturizing and toning. Thankfully, a small bowl of boiled tamarind
water can help you in this situation. It is very easy to have this natural
moisturizer and toner for your skin.
Ingredients:
- Tamarind pulp: 15 grams
- Green tea: 2 teaspoons
- Water
Method:
- Boil a small cup of water and add tamarind pulp to the pot
- Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes
- Stir in green tea to the tamarind water and keep simmering for 5 more minutes
- Strain to get the water and mix well
- Let it cool and use as a skin toning as well as hydrating agent.
How Tamarind Benefits Hair?
Tamarind for Hair Care
1. Prevents Hair Loss
In addition to the health and skin benefits of tamarind
fruit & juice, there are also some benefits of tamarind for our hair.
Initially, it can help to prevent hair loss, which is one of the most concerned
issues for many people, especially those who are at the higher age. If you are
afraid of this hair problem, why don’t you follow the recipe we suggest below.
Ingredients:
- Tamarind pulp: 15 grams
Method:
- Soak a tamarind fruit in water for about 10 minutes
- Then extract the liquid and gently massage over your scalp as well as your hair
- Dip a soft towel in lukewarm water and squeeze out excessive water
- Cover your hair with that towel and let it be for 1/2 hour
- Wash off your hair with your shampoo and container
- Do this twice a week
2. Treats Oily Scalp
Do you have the oily scalp? It seems so annoying if your
scalp is oily and greasy. Actually, the oily scalp can cause various hair
disorders such as dandruff and hair loss. Therefore, controlling your oily
scalp is necessary, which means you have to manage the sebum production well.
One of the benefits of tamarind says that this tasty fruit can help to treat
oily scalp & greasy hair. You can follow our recipe to get the best
result.
Ingredients:
- Tamarind pulp: 2 tablespoons
- Buttermilk: 1 teaspoon
- Olive oil: 1 tablespoon
Method:
- Mix tamarind, olive oil, and buttermilk together to make a smooth paste
- Then directly apply the solution on your hair
- Gently massage your scalp for 5-10 minutes
- Leave it for 15 minutes. You can wear a cap.
- Rinse off your hair with a mild shampoo
- Do this on a weekly basis
We have introduced you the most wonderful and effective
benefits of tamarind fruit & juice in terms of health, skin, and hair. We
hope that you find it interesting and useful so that you can add this tasty
fruit to your diet and apply the recommended recipes to take care of your
health and beauty. As usual, we always welcome all your comments and feedback
that you can leave for the topic.
