Ingredient: Cashew nuts
Category: Nuts
Season: All
The cashew (Anacardium occidentale; syn. Anacardium curatellifolium A.St.-Hil.) is a tree in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The plant is native to northeastern Brazil, where it is called by its Portuguese name Caju (the fruit) or Cajueiro (the tree). It is now widely grown in tropical climates for its cashew "nuts"
What appears to be the fruit of the cashew tree is an oval or pear-shaped accessory fruit or false fruit that develops from the receptacle of the cashew flower. Called the cashew apple, better known in Central America as "marañón", it ripens into a yellow and/or red structure about 5–11 cm long.
It is edible, and has a strong "sweet" smell and a sweet taste.
The pulp of the cashew apple is very juicy, and the skin is fragile, thus making it unsuitable for transport.
The true fruit of the cashew tree is a kidney or boxing-glove shaped drupe that grows at the end of the pseudo fruit.
The drupe develops first on the tree, and then the peduncle expands into the pseudofruit. Within the true fruit is a single seed, the cashew nut.
Although a nut in the culinary sense, in the botanical sense the fruit of the cashew is a seed.
The seed is surrounded by a double shell containing a dermatogenic phenolic resin, urushiol, a potent skin irritant toxin also found in the related poison ivy.
Some people are allergic to cashew nuts, but cashews are a less frequent allergen than some nuts.
Other vernacular names include: cajueiro, cashu, casho, acajuiba, caju, acajou, acaju, acajaiba, alcayoiba, anacarde, anacardier, anacardo, Andi parippu (in Malayalam), cacajuil, cajou, gajus, godambi (in Kannada), jeedi pappu (in Telugu), jocote maranon, maranon, merey, Mundhiri paruppu (Tamil), noix d’acajou, pomme cajou, pomme, jambu, jambu golok, jambu mete, jambu monyet, jambu terong, kasoy.
In the Antilles, in Puerto Rico, it is known as pajuil and in the Dominican Republic as the cajuil. The pseudo fruit is the main part used as raw fruit.
Cashew is produced in around 32 countries of the world.
The urushiol must be removed from the dark green nut shells before the seed inside is processed for consumption; this is done by shelling the nuts, a somewhat hazardous process, and exceedingly painful skin rashes (similar to poison-ivy rashes) among processing workers are common.
In India urushiol is traditionally used to control tamed elephants by their mahouts (riders or keepers). The so-called "raw cashews" available in health food shops have been cooked but not roasted or browned.
Cashew nuts are a common ingredient in Asian cooking.
They can also be ground into a spread called cashew butter similar to peanut butter.
Cashews have a very high oil content, they are used in some other nut butters to add extra oil.
Cashews contain 180 calories per ounce (6 calories per gram), 70% of which are from fat.
The cashew apple is used for its juicy but acidic pulp, which can be eaten raw or used in the production of jam, chutney, or various beverages.
Depending on local customs, its juice is also processed and distilled into liquor or consumed diluted and sugared as a refreshing drink, Cajuína.
Ripe cashew apples also make good caipirinha.
In Goa, India, the cashew apple is the source of juicy pulp used to prepare feni, a locally popular distilled liquor.
In Nicaragua the cashew apple has many uses, it is often eaten or made into juice and also processed to create sweets and jellies. Other uses in Nicaragua include fermentation to produce wine and home-vinegar.
The cashew apple contains much tannin and is very perishable.
For this reason, in many parts of the world, the false fruit is simply discarded after removal of the cashew nut.
As nuts come, a cashew is not a particularly hard nut: its flavour is gentle and distinctly more-ish, and it lends itself well to spicy dishes.
Indian and Chinese cooking use cashew extensively, and India is a major exporter |