Tamarinds are sticky, dense, sweet and sour brown pods that grow in tropical areas around the world, including my home region of South Florida. In the Caribbean and Mexico, it is usually used for sweet preparations, as opposed to the more savory dishes of South and Southeast Asian food.

Do not even bother buying the whole tamarind pods, they are a pain in the ass to process and it’s not worth it. You can buy it already processed in blocks, and you might want to if you plan on using it in savory preparations. For my purposes, I just buy a big jug of tamarind syrup, which I get at the Associated on Knickerbocker. It’s all natural — just tamarind pulp, water, and sugar. Many times they use corn syrup, so if you want to avoid that, find a brand with sugar.

My favorite — and the most basic — way to use this fruit is for agua de tamarindo. Just pour a few tablespoons into a glass, fill the rest up with water and ice, mix to dissolve the syrup, and drink. I like bubbles, so I usually use seltzer instead of water, but it’s the same thing. I also once made a cocktail at a BBQ once with tamarind syrup, seltzer, and dark rum, which was pretty good.

It’s not traditional but you can also cook with tamarind syrup. An obvious way to use it is as a glaze. I put about half a cup of it in a small pot with some chile flakes for heat and let it simmer for just a minute. Then I brushed it on chicken legs that I had brined for a couple hours in some salted tamarind water, just to make sure it got the flavor inside the meat. I just broiled them for about 30 minutes, until the skin was dark brown and crispy, and served with rice. (The photos got corrupted or I’d post them.)

Tamarind has a distinct flavor, so I wouldn’t use it to replace any old syrup. But it’s great with meat like chicken or pork, which take well to sweet sauces.