My Lunch Can Beat Up Your Lunch!

Bento Ingredients: Tamarind

 
   
 

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You sure you want to pack that in a lunch box?Mmm. Doesn't that look yummy? The tamarind is a legume, but tastes like a fruit. When ripe, the shell is brittle and can be easily cracked, revealing the even-less-appetizing-looking pulp within, which comes out in one piece. It's surrounded by a net of tough fibers, which you can easily remove by grasping the stem end and pulling it away from the pulp. This leaves you with the edible fruit, which has large seeds within. (The seeds don't correspond to the lumps on the outer pod. Go figure.)

If you like exotic stuff, want to weird out your friends in the lunchroom, and don't mind getting your fingers a little sticky, I highly recommend this. The pulp is described as sweetish-sour, and reminds me of prunes. Even the seeds are kinda cool - they look like marble-sized, irregular bits of polished wood.