How to grow cashew nuts?
From trees, of course! Cashew nuts are under a family called tree nuts and they grow mainly in India, Vietnam, Brazil and Africa. The temperature for growing them is about 10 to 40C, so 25C is perfect for them. They are rather tough and drought resistant so they grow pretty well in any conditions. These are the cashew seeds growing on a tree:
Take a look below at how the whole cashew tree looks like:
From the picture, you will see fruits on it. Cashew nut is only a part of the fruit. Cashew apple is actually the real term and you can actually eat them! It is high in Vitamin C, juicy, refreshing but with a tinge of acidity. Not all apples are red, some are orange or yellow like the picture below.
Some people actually grow them for the cashew apples and not the nuts. I think it looks pretty cute like a mushroom with a grumpy face! In Goa, the cashew apple juice is even fermented and distilled to produce alcohol.
It takes 3 to 5 years to grow a tree from deshelled seeds. A grafted plant will be faster and time will shorten to just 18 months. To remove the nuts from the fruits is actually very dangerous because the shell of the nuts have a horrible, corrosive liquid that can burn you. There are 3 ways to get around this:
1) By freezing - The shells can be separated from the nut before it thaws. Gloves are still needed but the danger is decreased. Not many are using this method.
2) By roasting - Heat the oil to 210C and cook them for 2 minutes. The corrosive liquid will drain away so you will need some equipment with holes for them to flow. In modern technology, soaking of the nuts are done before roasted to prevent them from burning.
3) By steaming - This is more advanced technology where a steam cooker makes the shell soft so it is easily removed. Finally, you can get to eat the fresh cashew nuts!
From this production, they can extract cashew oil for cooking or Cashew nut shell liquid (CNSH) as a raw material in chemical applications. The shells can also be used as biomass fuel. Growing a cashew tree is indeed very useful in many ways!
One more fun fact is that cashew trees grow flowers and produce fruits in the winter and not during summer! That is why only tropical countries can grow them. The nutritional value is also high with the rich amount of phosphorus, manganese, zinc and iron. After all that you have learnt, aren't you keen to taste some nice, fragrant cashew nuts?_________________________________________________________________________________
This article was first published on the blog of SnackFirst.
Jes
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Jes,
ReplyDeleteOh! So its not by putting cash in our mouths and chew, then spit it in the ground to get cashew nuts?
This is the first time I've seen a cashew tree and fruit! What a funny looking apple with the nut protruding out :)
No wonder so expensive! Not easy to get the nuts out!
Hi Jared,
DeleteNo la, of course if you spit cash out, you will get money tree! How to come out get cashew?!
Glad you find them as interesting as I did! Most times, we do not really think much about the growing process. Cashew is the most interesting one with fruits, the rest... not so cute! It's considered cheap already compared to other nuts like macadamia and pine nuts.. those only for financially free people like you :P