This Indian word for “great or big” aptly describes the trucks little boys use to haul a mound of dirt around, a word that happens to be shared by a bean illegal in the U.S., but could very well be in your cupboard as an adulterant to another, quite legal bean. What is this word?

queproblema

Welcome back, Edmund! "My hat's" off to you--my first thought was "Mahatma." Apparently "Tonka" is Comanche for "great." "Disney changed the name to Tonka,....short for Tonka Wakon, or the Great One." http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052300/usercomments My little brother loved his all-metal Tonka trucks! The company, founded in Mound, Minnesota, was originally called Mound Metalcraft. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonka The tonka bean is the seed of Dipteryx odorata, a legume tree in the neotropics, of the Fabaceae family.... The seed contains coumarin, which can be lethal in large doses." It is sometimes used as a substitute for vanilla, which I personally never buy as a bean. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonka_bean "Tonka" Schoen for a fun question! Jun 25 09, 5:27 PM

edmund80

Thank you qp. Yes, "tonka" is the word. However, I believe that adulterated vanilla usually comes in the form of the extract (in bottles) and not as the raw bean, and that these usually come from Mexico. That said, tonka is used in other countries and I have tasted it mainly in "mignardise", those mini-desserts at the end of a meal. And yes, I played with Tonka trucks too! http://homecooking.about.com/od/specificfood/a/mexicanvanilla.htm http://cannelle-vanille.blogspot.com/2009/02/tonka-bean-and-rice-milk-sherbet.html http://www.recettespourtous.com/recettes/7476_recette-mignardises-feve-tonka-pour-cafe Jun 26 09, 11:59 PM