Table 2 Uses of Tamarindus indica, parts used and mode of use
Uses | Part used | Mode of preparation and use |
|---|---|---|
Food | Fruit | Mature ripe fruit of the sweet variety eaten as a snack. Immature green pods are eaten fresh or boiled with porridge to give it a sour taste. Pulp of mature ripe fruit added during preparation of porridge and millet bread to give it a sharp taste. Pulp concentrate is boiled to make a thick paste eaten as sauce especially during drought. Tender leaves cooked and eaten as a vegetable. |
Beverage | Fruit | Husks are removed from mature ripe fruit which is then soaked in cold water. Seeds and fibres are then separated from the pulp to make a concentrate which is diluted to make a cold beverage popular with all ages. Sugar or honey may be added to enhance taste. |
Spice/seasoning | Fruit | Pulp of ripe fruit boiled with dried potato chips ‘amukeke’(At.) adds flavor and preserves consistency. Pulp concentrate added to sauces such as meat to enhance taste. |
Preservative | Fruit | Pulp added during preparation of millet bread preserves it for several weeks. Pulp added to sauces such as meat keeps it fresh for a longer period. |
Income | Tree | Entire tree sold especially to limestone kiln operators to earn income. |
Fruit | Fruit sold to earn income. | |
Fuel | Trunk | Trunk and large branches used to make charcoal. Makes excellent fuelwood for firing bricks and limestone kilns. |
Branches | Small branches lopped off during pruning or complete harvest are used for firewood. | |
mulch | Leaves | Leaves spread in gardens as mulch |
construction | Branches | Straight portions are used in house construction |
Tools and utensils | Trunk and branches | Small stems and branches are used to make clubs and tool handles for hoes, axes and pangas Trunk is chiseled to make utensils such as mortars, pestles |
Aesthetic and recreation | Seeds | Seeds are used as counters in traditional board games such as ‘omweso’ (lus) |
Tree | Trees add beauty to homes and provide shade in homesteads and other compounds thus improving the ambience | |
Socio-cultural | Tree | Due to the cool shade and lack of parasites, large tamarind trees are favourite venues for village meetings, markets and places of worship. Large tamarind trees are used as polling stations during elections. Due to their longevity, tamarind trees serve as key landmarks and are often used as reference points and boundary markers during land demarcation between neighbours. |
Education | Seeds | Seeds are used as learning aids during arithmetic lessons for beginners |
Personal hygiene | branches | Ends of small branches are cut and the ends chewed to make durable toothbrushes |
Ethnoveterinary uses | Leaves | Freshly picked mature leaves are crushed in water and decoction used to treat livestock diseases such as ‘kawali’(dhop.) |
Ethnomedicine for humans | Leaves | Freshly picked mature leaves crushed in water then filtrate mixed in porridge to treat ‘kawali’(dhop.) (smallpox) Leaves crushed in water and drunk to treat abdominal upsets. Decoction of stem bark used to treat abdominal upsets in humans. |
Fruit | Pulp diluted to make a cold beverage given especially to those undergoing stress such as pregnant women, convalescents and those returning from war. Fruit pulp concentrate used to treat constipation | |
Shade | Tree | Provides shade for livestock, in homesteads, on compounds and for travellers along roads |
Windbreak | Tree | Windbreak for houses and crops |
Support | Tree | Trees used to support climbing plants including passion fruit, yams and oyster nuts locally known kulekula[lus] or Onjwege [dhop.] Straight portions of branches used to support banana stems |
Feed | Leaves | Fresh leaves are fed to domestic animals such as goats. |