Dialium guinense "Velvet tamarind"

Velvet tamarind is an evergreen shrub or a tree with a densely leafy, compact canopy of a treecrown; it can grow up to 30 meters tall but is often smaller and shrubby. The often short the trunk of a treebole can be up to 80cm in diameter and is free of Outgrowth at the base of a tree trunkbuttresses but has narrow, thin, butt flares.

Fruit is consumed raw or cooked. Peeled and eaten raw. The red flesh inside the pod that surrounds the seeds has an agreeable, sweetly acid, somewhat tingly, drying sensationastringent flavor.  It can be dried and chewed, or macerated in cold water to form a thirst-quenching, acid beverage. It is also used in the preparation of chutneys and preserves. The fruits are more or less circular and flattened, but sometimes almost spherical; globe shapedglobose, up to 25mm in diameter.

This collection was sourced in Columbia.

If you like Dialium guinense "Velvet tamarind", you might also like Dimorphandra mollis or Couroupita guianensis (Cannonball tree)