Remember, I mentioned that on our way to Morang river we got the smell of Tonka bean? Well today I decided to show you all what it looks like, give a little information on it and on how it’s used in Trinidad and Tobago. The unmistakable smell of the tonka bean (Dipteryx odorata) has been well known to my nostrils while growing up. My father grew a cocoa tree on our land and we made our own creole chocolate from time to time. First we would pick the cocoa; dry it out in the sun; parch it when it was dried properly and then pound it in a large mortar.
Tonka Bean as a Spice
This is where Mr. Tonka bean would come in. Because of its aromatic qualities, the tonka bean was used together with the other spices while the cocoa was pounded with the pestle. Long after the cocoa was made and rolled you would still get the wonderful smell mixed in with the bay leaf and other spices. I’m sure many of the older heads will know what I’m talking about.
Tonka Bean Used in Breads
Another use we had for the Tonka bean was in making sweet bread and cakes. The tonka bean was grated and used as a substitute for vanilla. I can’t put into words how these sweet bread and cakes tasted. Nowadays with more commercially made spices and ease of buying in a supermarket, this bean has been overlooked probably because of the coumarin it contains which is toxic in large quantities. But then it’s not like we’re going to eat three tonka beans a day!
Anyhow, as a Trini I feel we shouldn’t forget what we have and should revive this once famous bean into our recipes. After all its free. Anyone up for a coconut ice cream flavoured a bit with tonka bean? Sounds like a plan. 🙂
After the fruit is eaten and dried the outer “shell” is cracked.The black bean, shown here, is the part that is used.
More to come. Ah gone!
Don’t forget to leave your comment on tonka bean in the comment box below.
Mark Duphiney
whoa..the last time i ate one of these i was barely a teen..i remember scraping away with my teeth at the fleshy pulp..a friend at school, Ste Madeleine Junior Secondary School… had given me one… that my friend was a long time ago…i thought alot about that fruit since, but could never remember the name until now…thanks Felix…great memories you brought back.
Felix
No problem Mark! 🙂
lisa
Interesting! I’ve been hearing a lot about tonka beans lately, but I’ve never used them.
Cynthia
Thanks for the introduction to a new ingredient.
Felix
Do you get it where you are?
Bert
Is this the fruit we would eat then carve faces in the furry hair? Or is that another fruit.
Felix
Yep that’s it 🙂
Tony
You will have to eat 30 tonka beans a day for the coumarin to affect or kill you. If you are taking warfarin well you are already juiced up with coumarin. Big pharma companies pay for the research on these things. They make drugs from these seeds then tell you not to use them because they are dangerous instead go use a pill that we charge you for sucker ,been there done that.