Anacardium occidentale / Cashew / Anacardiaceae (Sumach Family)

Information

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Description

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. Cashew nuts are the kidney-shaped seeds that adhere to the bottom of the cashew apple, the fruit of the cashew tree. Cashew nuts are delicious and highly nutritious. They contain "significant amounts of anti-oxidants"(1).

Contents

100g Cashew nuts contain: 30g carbohydrates, 43g fat and 18g protein. They are a significant source of iron, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc and selenium.(2)(3)

Historical

The first western people sighting the Cashew tree was by the Portuguese. They invaded Brazil in the 1500's. Portuguese seamen brought the seeds of the cashew nut tree from Brazil to be planted by the early settlers along the east coast of Africa. The trees took root and thrived. It was not long before cashew trees were growing wild along the entire coast of Mozambique. They spread to Kenya and Tanzania.
Uncared for and uncultivated, the ripe nuts were primarily harvested by the African natives. Later, they were sold to the Portuguese traders who in turn disposed of them to merchants who then shipped the nuts to India where they were shelled. Today Cashew nuts are produced in around 23 countries around the world, with Vietnam, India, Brazil and Nigeria being the top exporters.

Plant Description

It is a small evergreen tree growing to 10-12m (~32 ft) tall, with a short, often irregularly-shaped trunk. The leaves are spirally arranged, leathery textured, elliptic to obovate, 4 to 22 cm long and 2 to 15 cm broad, with a smooth margin. The flowers are produced in a panicle or corymb up to 26 cm long, each flower small, pale green at first then turning reddish, with five slender, acute petals 7 to 15 mm long.
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, but the skin is fragile, making it unsuitable for transport. It is often used as a flavor in agua fresca.
The true fruit of the Cashew tree is a kidney or boxing-glove shaped drupe that grows at the end of the pseudofruit. Actually, 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.(3)

Legal Remarks

This product is illegal or somehow problematic to send to the following countries. Click on the country link for further information.

• Australia

References

(1) Document: Health benefits of nuts: potential role of antioxidants, Rune Blomhoff, Monica H. Carlsen, Lene Frost Andersen and David R. Jacobs Jr, British Journal of Nutrition (2006)
(2) Cashew nuts, Health 24
(3) Cashew, Wikipedia