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On another day around an excellent table, someone told a story on the ingredient from which you want to talk today. The reason for writing about Tonka Bean is that this was the star ingredient of this story and for me it was previously unknown, so I could not resist investigating something about it. The story in question is not waste but we'll leave for another day.

The plant yielding seed that is native to South America, particularly Venezuela, Bolivia, Guyana, Brazil and Peru, but there are a lot of production in Nigeria. In particular it is a tree called Dipteryx odorata is a legume family Fabaceae.

The aromatic seed is what makes it valuable in the kitchen to be used as a spice. His hypnotic fragrance is similar to vanilla can use grated like nutmeg or infusion and you will find it in many recipes combined with chocolate, cookies or cakes. It is sometimes suggested as a replacement for bitter almonds

But as a curiosity I will say that their use for cooking in some countries like the United States is prohibited. The reason is that it contains an anti-coagulant called Coumarin can be toxic in high doses over time. This compound is also found in lavender, licorice, strawberries, apricots, cherries and cinnamon, so you should not be very strange. Besides its use as a spice has been used to flavor snuff, pipe has been used in the preparation of perfumes and therapeutic use for the treatment of lymphatic obstructions.