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.