The Tamarind Soda Challenge – IOTW Report

The Tamarind Soda Challenge

How much is a bottle? A dollar sumptin’?

It would be interesting to see the comments. It is a very unusual beverage.

Try it if you can find it (it should be in most supermarkets, maybe in the “Goya” section, if not in the regular soda aisle.)

We’ll revisit in a week or so and take a poll.

My guess is most people will not like. But, who knows?

51 Comments on The Tamarind Soda Challenge

  1. I wasn’t even sure what the hell a “tamarind” was. So I had to look:
    ht tps://www.thespruceeats.com/tamarind-mexican-fruit-4082438
    Guess it can’t kill you…

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  2. Several Mexican restaurants in NE Ohio carry these. The pineapple is refreshing. haven’t tried Tamarind but I do like the tamarind sauce at Indian restaurants especially on batada vada (deep fried potato balls). Will see if i can find it.

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  3. Well heck. Checked inventories and all I can find around here is grapefruit, mandarin, lime, pineapple. No Tamarind locally. If anyone likes Sidral Mundet Apple Meijer carries it and a variety of Olipop.

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  4. Torani used to make a Tamarindo syrup, which was great with soda water. Unfortunately, it appears to have been discontinued. I was sad when I couldn’t find it any more.

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  5. Winco carries Jarrito soda, I don’t know if they have tamarind soda but I have seen their soda displayed on shelves generally in the front aisle of my local Winco and with all the Mexican food as well. I’ll have to check it out next Saturday when I do my grocery shopping on Sat. morning. I use Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce and tamarind extract is listed as one of the ingredients.

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  6. Tamarind Shrimp with Coconut Rice.

    …was a recipe at ‘Golden Thai’ restaurant in Downtown Toronto.

    It Closed in 2020.

    At it’s Zenith, it was the absolute BEST Thai restaurant in T-Dot.

    I had gone there quite a few times with my wife. It was leagues beyond anything else in the Asian community.

    tamarind was like an orange/clementine flavour which they basted their shrimp skewers in and served with a Cilantro flavour on a bed of Coconut rice.

    In 1993-5, it was an original & the line up was out the door.

    The One thing I will say about Toronto, is that you can get AUTHENTIC in every neighbourhood.

    Careful if you ask for “Chicken Fingers”, It AIN’T Strips of deep fried breast…

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  7. Tamarind is an unusual flavor, but doable. Takes getting used to.
    This is a “challenge” that I can approve of.

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  8. My kid brought home some tamarind candy from a mexican at school and it tasted like ass. My kid agreed. But will try the soda anyhow, I know exactly where to find it.

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  9. BFF’s hubby ordered one when we ate at a Brazilian place for lunch in Columbus OH. It didn’t look very appetizing so I didn’t try it. Guess I should have!

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  10. Recently, I bought a carton of mango/chamoy sherbet. I didn’t even know what I was buying until I got home. Apparently, chamoy is heavily spiced, pickled fruit that is huge in Mexico. The rest is in my freezer if anybody wants it.

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  11. @geoff the aardvark
    Mr. Kakalogical and I do our Saturday morning shopping at Winco.
    Our Winco was built over the gravesite of Riverside International Raceway.
    See you at the races!

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  12. you gotta be freakin’ kidding me!

    this is freaky … just today I attended a crab feast at my son’s house & I decided, on a whim, to take some Tamarind soda w/ me for the kids & grandkids to try out. told them that on a web site I frequent the ‘proprietor’ asked us to try a taste test on one of his favorite beverages … I liked it & noted that it was a nice change & a refreshing hot summertime beverage … everyone that tried it agreed … they all liked it!

    thumbs up to BFH for introducing a new bev to our family palate … serenfreakindipity

    true story! … pinky swear & spit-on-it shake

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  13. I’m OK with it. I spend a LOT of time in central WA and the kids and I eat at Mexican restaurants often. I like horchata too much to have tamarindo that often. The Mexican coconut popsicles I’m addicted to. We actually make a couple trips to Gap every year to pick up about $300 worth of tamales from Los Hernandez.

    crosscut.com/2018/05/yakima-valley-americas-best-tamales-and-family-tale

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  14. Actually they can’t be America’s best, because there are little old ladies who win the Tamale contest every year in Topenish, but they don’t sell them except a little bit. When the kids and I aren’t hanging out with Indians one of our favorite places is Blue Heron Park in Moses and it is absolutely lousy with Mexicans. Probably north of 90% of the families there swimming are Mexican. It is a rare day there when we don’t get an invitation to have lunch with a group.

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  15. Used to drink some of their drinks but had cut most of the sugar out and all that corn syrup I could. Had a lower back pain that was really my left kidney. That went away after I cut the sweet stuff off.
    When it says made with real sugar I guess it could be 1 gram and then the rest whatever.

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  16. A tamarind is a kind of monkey, isn’t it?

    I’m not drinking that shit!

    Are they centrifugally bled out, or centripetally?

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  17. It seems like an interesting flavor, but i stopped drinking soda quite a few years back. Maybe I’ll give it a shot anyway.

    Next up, you all should try Durian.

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  18. I too gave up sodas and most sugar back in 2015. Break down and have a life saver or an Australian licorice when visiting chubby friends, but rarely.
    I stick with (unsweetened) lemon water, iced tea, coffee and spirits.
    FJB

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  19. Last time, I tried to find it here. There are quite a few flavors in the Jarritos brand and many stores carry the brand but only what I assume are the most popular flavors and then perhaps three or even only two. I could not find Tamarind.

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  20. I’m positive I saw that stuff when I took my mom to the Dollar Tree a couple weeks ago.
    I’ll have to go pick up a few. They had more than 1 flavor.

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  21. Just went to Dollar Tree and sure enough. Tamarind, Mandarin and Pineapple.
    Bought one of each and theyare in the fridge now.
    A little hesitant to try the Tamarind as it has the appearance of old dirty dishwater. $1.25 for a 24.5oz bottle.

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  22. Tangy/tart but tasty. Their “Mexican Cola” is satisfying but harder to score for some reason. Went to local Mexican restaurant and server bragged they have “all flavors” and the face they made when I asked for the Cola and they said “oops, nope”. Made with cane sugar not corn sugar and extra fizz for more bite. All flavors are crisp. Sez 1st ANGLICO class of 71’

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  23. i use the tamarind drink powder in my bottles of water, along with the melon(cantelope), cucumber/lime, hibiscus, and the lime flavors. it helps me to stay hydrated, by not making my water taste like water.

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  24. I’ve read all the comments, I’d never heard that word before in my whole life of 80 years. But how interesting it sounds. Is it possible that I could find it here in southern Mississippi (Biloxi, Ocean Springs) ? If so then where ?

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  25. Could not find it in the stores although there were many other flavors. Today I had a blood letting at a facility in another town so we stopped at a local Mexican place. They had Jarritos and the Tamarind flavor. It was really good and the first soda I’ve had in something like 13 years or more. I would drink it again even though my usual chug is unsweetened iced tea. Under $2,00. Camarones a la Diabla and Flan were excellent.

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