Agua Fresca de Tamarindo

Tamarind water or juice is super refreshing! With an earthy, sweet and sour taste, this is great over ice on a hot day. Tamarind also has so many health benefits that make it even more satisfying to drink.

Jump to:

• What are the benefits of fresh tamarind?
• Should I boil or soak the pods?
• How to store this drink
• Can I use a sugar substitute for this drink?
• Step by step process
• Agua de Tamarindo

What are the benefits of fresh tamarind?

Tamarind has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that can protect against diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. They say the seed extract may also help lower blood sugar and the pulp extract may help with losing weight and reverse fatty liver disease.

Should I boil or soak the pods?

I prefer the soaking method because you retain all the nutrients, and the pulp releases easier from the seed. Boiling is fine, but you have to wait for it too cool and sometimes it doesn’t let the pulp come off completely from the seed because the water might not penetrate as deep.

How to store this drink

If you have a glass jar that holds about 32 ounces of liquid, one of those would be great, but really any good size jar would work out for this. Store in the refrigerator for about 1 week.

Can I use a sugar substitute for this drink?

Yes, for sure. You can use your favorite sugar substitute. Depending on which type of sugar you are using adjust the amounts according to the package instructions on how to convert from real sugar.

Step by step process

Remove the shells from the tamarind pods. You can toss the hard shell, not needed.

Soak the tamarind in 2 cus of water for at least 4 hours or, if you have time, overnight is best. 

Using the soaking water, use your hands to start squishing the pulp off of the seeds and removing the veins. Use the water to “wash” it off of the seeds. The soaking water will start to thicken as you squeeze the pulp between your fingers.

Add 1 cup of water to the pulp liquid and mix it with your fingers. You want to thin it out to be able to strain it.

Once you’ve squeezed enough of the pulp off of the seeds, go ahead and grab your strainer and place that over a clean bowl.

Strain the pulp from the seeds. Using your hands and a spoon, push all of the liquid and the pulp through the strainer leaving behind only the seeds and the veins and maybe some shell. Sift and puree as much of the pulp as possible. You want as much pulp as you can get from those seeds, leaving behind the least amount of pulp as possible.

If needed, take what is still inside of the strainer, put it back into the original bowl you squeezed the pulp, add 2 cups of water and swish it around. Give the seeds & pulp a few more squishes and restrain the cup of liquid.

At this point, you should have 4 cups of liquid tamarind pulp.

Discard the seeds and veins.

Add about ⅓ cups of sugar, or you can start with ¼ cups of sugar and add more if needed. I thought mine was perfect at ⅓ cups. You can also make simple syrup if you’d like, again just adjust the sweetness per your preference.

Serve over a nice glass full of ice.

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