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.
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.
No problem Mark! 🙂
Interesting! I’ve been hearing a lot about tonka beans lately, but I’ve never used them.
Thanks for the introduction to a new ingredient.
Do you get it where you are?
Is this the fruit we would eat then carve faces in the furry hair? Or is that another fruit.
Yep that’s it 🙂
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.
Wow I remember in Primary school going to the hill at the back of the school with my friends to look for Tonka beans. We would eat them during recess or lunch time. I havent had one in years! This brings back memories.
Where can I get the dried seed in Trinidad. I want to use it in a recepie.
Most likely in the market. Check the people who sell the spices.
Ahhhh just brought back soooo much great memories. My cousins would take me to the “Tankcobean” field and it was the best part of our weekend adventures when visiting our great grandmother in Flanagin Town. What would I give for my grandkids to experience such.
I ate this fruit in primary school.. it was delicious..I use to carry the seed for my mom to use in baking cakes
Lovely article on the sensual Tonka bean
you sometimes see it selling in port of spain. as a child we had a field of these trees which shed their leaves once a year and they were very crunchy to walk in.but its not that small flowering tree that is been shown but rather a 20 feet tree