Pure Indian Foods’ organic tamarind paste has a pure, clean flavor with a bracing tartness. This thick, smooth paste is our favorite form for using tamarind as a souring agent. While fresh pods are available in some markets, it’s more commonly sold as a concentrate or as dense blocks of pulp that need labor-intensive soaking and straining; both forms sacrifice nuanced flavor in favor of convenience, whereas this tamarind paste is both easy to use and intensely flavorful. Pure Indian Foods, which traces its roots to 1889 in northern India, still uses traditional methods to make its products. The company’s pantry staples have a complexity and authenticity that just can’t be imitated.

Kitchens of Africa calls tangy-sweet Mombasa its most versatile sauce. Inspired by shidni, a Somali chutney, this simmering sauce is made with tangy tamarind fruit, lime and cider vinegar for a bright flavor profile that's acidic but never astringent, with a subtle, slow-building heat. Cardamom, cloves and star anise add aromatic depth to this bold, balanced sauce, while . We love how it maintains its tangy vibrancy and subtle complexity even after hours of simmering. Other than as a simmering sauce, use Mombasa Tamarind Sauce as a glaze for roasted meats as well as steamed or roasted vegetables, or try it as the base for a homemade barbecue sauce. Its glossy consistency also works well as part of a dressing for a bean salad or crunchy slaw.

Jainaba Jeng was born and raised in The Gambia, a small country on the west African coast bordered on three sides by Senegal. When she moved to North Carolina in 1997, she noticed that she could find ready-made sauces for some international cuisines, but none from her native country—or, in fact, from Africa. So she took matters into her own hands, creating a line of small-batch simmer sauces that draw on flavors from West Africa to Jamaica. “When you taste our foods, I hope you will feel the warmth, love and soul of all women of Africa to whom I pay tribute on our packaging,” says Jeng. “They are responsible for most of the cooking in Africa.”

• Net Weight: 12 ounces
• Ingredients: Water, tamarind, lime juice, bell pepper, dates, sunflower oil, cider vinegar, cilantro, spices, onion, garlic, ginger, cane sugar, salt, mushroom powder (mushroom, salt, mushroom extract), paprika, xanthan gum
• Place of Origin: United States