The tamarind fruit is used in every home in culinary preparation like chutneys, sauces, etc. It is also used in some medicines and for preserving fish. The tamarind fruit, a brown pod contains a juicy acid pulp to the extent of 55%, seed about 34% and outer shell and fiber about 11%. During storage the fruit pulp which is brownish red in color initially becomes darker and after about a year, is almost black. The pulp also becomes soft and sticky as pectolytic degradation takes place and moisture is absorbed especially in humid climates. Insect infestation is very serious when seeds are present. Domestic use and also export of tamarind pulp as such therefore presents lot of problems.

The present method of extracting the fruit pulp by soaking in water and squeezing out the juice is unhygienic, inconvenient and wasteful. Potassium bitartrate being insoluble in water, half the acid present in the fruit pulp is left unextracted. Hence, a clean product kept in closed containers is more desirable.

 Attempts at overcoming these difficulties have resulted in the development of a process for the preparation of wholesome and convenient product, Tamarind juice concentrate. This is easy to dispense, since the jam like material is easily dispersible in water. The quality of the product does not deteriorate over a period of one year's storage.

After loosening the pulp and manual cleaning to remove seeds and fibers present, the pulp is soaked in water boiled in stainless steam jacketed Kettle. The boiled material is obtained by using an inclined vibratory filter and the extract obtained is further filtered to separate fine pulpy matter. The residue obtained is pressed and this extract is mixed with the extract of above.

The filtered extract is concentrated by evaporation under vacuum. The concentrate is filled into suitable containers, cooled and then closed. The residue obtained after pressing is again boiled with water used for the first extraction and then filtered and pressed as above. The pressed residue is discarded. Fresh pulp is added to the second extract and the process is repeated.

 By adopting this counter current extraction procedure, it is possible to obtain maximum extraction efficiency. The concentrate when cooled, should have a jam like consistency.