Tamarind — flavouring profile

Tamarind is a sweet-sour acidulant with a dark, fruity, almost date-like body — the souring agent behind pad thai, sambar and Worcestershire sauce — so it wants a high-acid wine, but, unlike lean sumac, one with fruit and often a touch of sweetness to meet its sticky, sweet-sour depth.

The compounds that matter. Tamarind's sourness comes from tartaric acid — the same acid that frames wine — backed by citric and malic, while the pulp's sugars and dark, caramelised, date-and-molasses notes give it a sweet, fruity body no other souring agent has. So it is sour and sweet at once. It almost always sits in a balancing act: pad thai weighs tamarind against palm sugar, fish sauce and chilli; South Indian sambar and rasam set it against spice; tamarind glazes and chutneys turn sticky and sweet over rich, fried food. The wine therefore meets a real sourness, a real sweetness and, often, real heat.

What it demands of a wine. High acid first, to stand level with the tartaric sourness rather than be flattened by it. Then, usually, a touch of sweetness — to meet the sweet-sour balance and to settle the chilli that so often rides alongside. Ripe, generous fruit chimes with tamarind's dark-fruit body, and low, supple tannin keeps the sour-and-spicy dish from turning hard. Keep alcohol moderate against the heat and oak light.

Seek. An off-dry, high-acid aromatic white is the pad thai and sambar answer — its acid matches the sour, its sweetness meets the sugar and tames the chilli at once. For tamarind-glazed grilled meats, a full-bodied darker rosé, served cool, brings fruit and acid with no tannin to sharpen. For tamarind chutney over rich, fried food, a juicy, low-tannin red served cool flatters the sweet-sour glaze.

Avoid. Low-acid wines of any colour, which fall flat against the sourness. Firm, tannic reds, which the sour-and-spicy dishes turn hard. Heavily oaked, high-alcohol wines, whose weight and warmth fight a bright, sweet-sour flavour and inflame the chilli.

Three to reach for. Off-dry Riesling (Mosel Kabinett); Tavel rosé (southern Rhône), served cool; Cru Beaujolais (Gamay), served cool.