At Asian markets, tamarind sweets are typically irregular lumps the size of marbles, rattling in hard plastic boxes. Their cousins from Mexico and the Caribbean are often big around as golf balls; some are stiff, some, softer. (All of them, big and small, contain seeds.) The Spanish-speaking gentleman who attended this solitary basket didn't expand on the provenance of his "dulce de tamarindo" ($1 each), but judging by their texture — clinging to the wrapper rather than retaining their shape — they must have been made locally, and recently. In addition to CD-sized disks, the gentleman sold two versions of tamarind ball, one hot, one not; I'm sure you can tell which is which.
Tamarind sweets vendor
Fifth Ave. (low 50s, west side), Sunset Park, Brooklyn
I saw your post on the tamarind sweets, and I thought you might like to see another Sunset Park special.
http://sunsetpark.wordpress.com/2009/10/10/sunset-park-sustenance-pastelillas/
Posted by: sunsetparkchron | October 09, 2009 at 09:12 PM