There are a few flavours commonly found in Asia that I think would be an easy sell for someone from North America. Tamarind unfortunately isn’t one of them. This isn’t to say that I don’t like tamarind, I just feel like it might be a little too intimidating for the average western pallet. The biggest problem is the overall look of this fruit... or bean, I’m not really sure. It’s a very unattractive looking way to get a fairly sweet product. The flavour is also a little bit strange. I feel like it’s almost a little sour, kind of sweet, with a hint of an almost soapy flavour. The last part of that description is where many western pallets might fall off of the tamarind wagon.

This candy is a great representation of those three flavours. I would say since it’s a hard candy it leans a lot more on the sweet side, but the sour and soapy flavour are there as well. I’m fairly sensitive to soapy flavours, cilantro is not something I enjoy, so I’ll admit that tamarind treats are never my favourite. However, because the soapy flavour is milder with tamarind I don’t hate it all together. The extra sweet in this makes it even a little nicer for someone like me.

The texture of this candy is pretty basic for a hard candy. It’s a little fascinating however because both the hard candy and the filling are both tamarind flavoured, but the hard candy is a little sweeter than the filling. Normally with fillings there are either two different flavours, or the centre is just about as sweet and the hard candy.

While I’m not a huge fan of these, they’re not that bad. I would say that these might be one of the best candies to have your first taste of tamarind, as you’ll instantly get an idea of how it might taste in other applications, but you’re not overwhelmed.