Cashew
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Cashew
Cashews ready for harvest in Guinea-Bissau
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae (unranked): Angiosperms (unranked): Eudicots (unranked): Rosids Order: Sapindales Family: Anacardiaceae Genus: Anacardium Species: A. occidentale
Binomial name
Anacardium occidentale L.

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. Its English name derives from the Portuguese name for the fruit of the cashew tree, caju, which in turn derives from the indigenous Tupi name, acajú. It is now widely grown in tropical climates for its cashew "nuts" (see below) and cashew apples.

'Anacardium occidentale', from Koehler's 'Medicinal-Plants' (1887)

Cashew tree

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 "jocote de 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. 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, anacardic acid, a potent skin irritant chemically related to the more well known allergenic oil urushiol which is also a toxin found in the related poison ivy. Some people are allergic to cashew nuts, but cashews are a less frequent allergen than nuts or peanuts^{citation needed}.

Cashew industry and production

Cashew nut output in 2005

A bottle of commercially produced cashew fruit juice from El Salvador

Originally spread from Brazil by the Portuguese, the cashew tree is now cultivated in all regions with a sufficiently warm and humid climate. It is produced in around 32 countries of the world. The world production figures of cashew crop, published by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), was around 3.1 million tons per annum. The major raw cashew producing countries with their production figures in 2006 (as per the FAO) are Vietnam (941,600 tons), Nigeria (636,000 tons), India (573,000 tons), Brazil (236,140 tons) and Indonesia (122,000 tons).

One cashew tree produces between 200 and 300 cashew nuts in a year.

The world’s total area under the cultivation of cashew is around 33,900 km². India ranks first in area utilized for cashew production, though its yields are relatively low. The world’s average yield is 817 pounds per acre (916 kg/hectare) of land.

Collectively, Vietnam, Nigeria, India and Brazil account for more than 90% of all cashew kernel exports.

Top Ten Cashew Nuts (With Shells) Producers — 11 June 2008
Country	Production (Tonnes)	Footnote
Vietnam	961000	F
Nigeria	660000	F
India	620000
Brazil	176384
Indonesia	146000
Côte d'Ivoire	130000	F
Philippines	118000	F
Tanzania	92000	F
Guinea-Bissau	81000	F
Mozambique	58000	F
World	3186039	A
Footnotes No symbol = official figure P = official figure F = FAO estimate * = Unofficial/Semi-official/mirror data C = Calculated figure A = Aggregate(may include official, semi-official or estimates) Source: Food And Agricultural Organization of United Nations: Economic And Social Department: Statistics Division

Uses

Cashew nuts, salted

Cashew nuts, roasted and salted

Medicine and industry

The cashew nutshell liquid (CNSL), a by-product of processing cashew, is mostly composed of anacardic acids.¹ These acids have been used effectively against tooth abscesses due to their lethality to gram-positive bacteria. They are also active against a wide range of other gram-positive bacteria. Many parts of the plant are used by the Patamona of Guyana medicinally. The bark is scraped and soaked overnight or boiled as an antidiarrheal. Seeds are ground up into powders used for antivenom for snake bites. The nut oil is used topically as an antifungal and for healing cracked heels.²

Anacardic acid is also used in the chemical industry for the production of cardanol, which is used for resins, coatings, and frictional materials.¹

Culinary

The cashew nut is a popular snack, and its rich flavor means that it is often eaten on its own, lightly salted or sugared. Cashew nuts are sold covered in chocolate, but due to their higher price compared to peanuts and almonds are not as common in candy, except from higher quality manufacturers. Cashew nuts also factor in Thai cuisine and Chinese cuisine generally in whole form, and in Indian cuisine often ground into sauces such as shahi korma and also used as garnish in Indian sweets and desserts. The cashew nut can also be used in cheese alternatives for vegans, typically in homemade cheese recipes.

In Malaysia, the young leaf are often eaten raw as salad or with sambal belacan (shrimp paste mixed with chili and lime.)

In Brazil, the cashew fruit juice is popular all across the country. Additionally, visitors to northeastern areas such as Fortaleza will often find cashew nut vendors selling the nuts, for low cost, who salt them in a plastic bag upon purchase.

Alcohol

In Goa, India the pseudofruit is used to make Feni, a popular liquor.

Common names

Acajaiba, acajou, acajé (Tupi), kaju (Gujarati), acajuiba, alcayoiba, anacarde, anacardier, anacardo, andi parippu (Malayalam), cacajuil, cajou, caju (Portuguese), cajueiro, cajuilcasho, cashu, gajus (Malay), godambi (Kannada), hạt điều (Vietnamese), jambu, jambu golok, jambu mente, jambu monyet, jambu terong (Indonesian), jeedi pappu (Telugu), jocote de marañón, kajoo (Hindustani), kadju (Sinhala), kasoy (Tagalog), marañón, merey, mundhiri paruppu (Tamil), noix d’acajou, pajuil, pomme, pomme cajou, mamuang himmaphan (มะม่วงหิมพานต์) (Thai)

See also

• Wild Cashew - the species Anacardium excelsum.
• Anacardium Giganteum, also known as Wild Cashew, used medicinally.
• Semecarpus anacardium, (the Oriental Anacardium) is a native of India and is closely related to the cashew.

Gallery

Cashew Fruit- Stages of Development

Cashew Inflorescence with developing fruit

A mature cashew apple ready to be harvested

Harvested Cashew ready to be processed- Goa India

Further reading

• Morton, Julia F. Fruits of Warm Climates. ISBN 978-0961018412
• Pillai, Rajmohan and Santha, P. The World Cashew Industry (Rajan Pillai Foundation, Kollam, 2008).³

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Anacardium occidentale

• Handbook of Energy Crops - Anacardium occidentale L.
• Masasi High Quality Farmers' Products: Smallholder Cashew Production in Masasi, Tanzania
• Yumnuts Naturals - delicious dry roasted cashews: Healthy, dry roasted cashew nut producers, based in the US