Tamarind (Tamarindus Indica L) is an important adjunct/ condiment used daily as sour ingredient in the Indian cookery. The sourness in the tamarind pulp is attributable to tartaric acid (8-18%), maleic and citric acids (about 2%). Pods are harvested once in a year when the crop ripens in winter. They are decuticled deseeded and the resultant pulp is extracted in water for use in a variety of food items like Sambar, Rasam, Puliogere, Chutneys, Sauces etc. The seeds are used commercially for the manufacture of sizing powders. India produces about 0.25 Million tonnes of tamarind pulp per annum, bulk of it coming from the States of Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Orissa and to a limited extent from Bihar, Maharashtra and Karnataka.. Most of the production is consumed in the country and very little quantity is exported in native or dried condition.

A process for manufacture of tamarind juice concentrate was developed by Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore, India. This product has become very popular in the metropolitan cities, towns as well as in many urban areas. This product is being exported in significant quantities mainly to gulf countries. However, transportation and material handling of the concentrate is a problem to the exporters and leaveslow margin to them. A process has been developed by the Institute for the production of dehydrated 'Tamarind Powder' with a free flowing nature. The product would be compact and convenient to use and handling and as a result the cost of transportation and material handling, packing, etc. Would be very low.