Large Bean-Pods

Called tamarind in English, these pods are brown, hard-shelled legumes usually sold in the shattered state, making the acid pulp more accessible. The ones shown at the right are about ten inches long (25cm). Tamarind pulp is mixed with water and sweetened to make a tasty drink, but it's so acid that it can't be good for the teeth. The seeds are too hard to eat. These legumes are picked from large trees, Tamarindus indica, in the Bean Family, native of the Old World tropics

There's no good English name for guaje, the flat, green pods shown above. Usually they're sold in tied-together bunches, and contain small, tasty beans. The pods, about a foot long, are produced on trees of Leucaena leucocephala, which is native to the Americas, and a member of the Bean Family. Guaje seeds are eaten raw, sometimes cooked, and sometimes used to season the dish called huaxmole. If the pods are too mature, thus brown and stiff, the seeds are too hard to use. You need pods in the flexible, green-turning-purple state seen above.