Cashew nuts

The Tupi-Indian tribe who also played a major part in the discovery of the cashew nut later found out that the nut was edible and doesn’t react to the skin unlike what the Brazilians thought of the cashew nut. The  word  cashew  comes  from  the  tupi-indian  word  acaju,which means"nuts'', instead of  growing  liken  normal  nuts  they  grow  out  of  the  base  of  cashew  apples  like  little  tails.

Though  this  fruit  was  founded in  Brazil, study  have  shown  that  Vietnam  is  the  largest  cashew  producing  country  all  over  the  world  and  India  is  the  second -largest cashew producing country, Maharashtra is the largest producer of cashews in the states of India and Andhra Pradesh and Odisha are followed by Maharashtra.

Down to the continent of Africa, the  cashew nut was brought to Africa by the Portuguese in the  16th century and today the continent of Africa can boost to be a large exporter of the cashew  nut.

It is interesting  to know that  humans started  eating  cashew nut  by  watching  the  Monkeys, the Monkeys  would  crack  open  the  cashews  with   stones and  process  the cashew  nuts to eat  kernels.

A  cashew   nut   is  technically  not  a  nut  at  all ,it  is  a  seed  that  grows  on  a  cashew  apple  which  grows   on  trees, with  a  curved  edible  seeds. The  curved   fruit, which  is  not  a  true  nut, is  shaped  like  a  large  thick  bean  and  can  reach  more  than  2.5 cm[1 inch  long) This  shell  is  harder  and   must   be    cracked   like the  shells  to  obtain  the  edible  seed  inside, a brown  oily resin  is  produced  between  the  two  shells  and  can blister  human  skin if not cracked properly. These  nuts  are then  picked  then detached  and  sundried. In  some  places  the  dried  fruits  are  roasted in between  burning  logs  where  the  heat  causes  the  outer   shells  to  burst  open  and  realize  the  caustic  resin, this  resin  can  be  injurious  to  the  eyes and skin  and when it  catches  fire  its  fumes are  released  a more  improved  method  the  poisonous  substances  are   thrown  into  the  roasting   cylinders ands the  inner  shells  are  broken  open  by  hand  kernels  heated to  remove  the  seed  coat. 

·         Nutritional Benefit of Cashew nut

Sources include: USDA

Amount Per  100 grams

Calories 553

Total Fat 44g     67%

Saturated fat 8g 40%

Cholesterol 0 mg 0%

Sodium 12 mg       0%

Potassium 660 mg   18%

Total Carbohydrate 30 g  10%

Dietary fiber 3.3 g 13%

Sugar 6 g

Protein 18 g 36%

Vitamin C 0%

Calcium 3%

Iron 37%

Vitamin D 0%

Vitamin B6 20%

Cobalamin 0%

Magnesium 73%  .