Did you know…?
A cashew nut contains five times more vitamin C than an orange.
Did you know…?
Cashew nuts come from Brazil. The Brazil nut does not. It comes from Bolivia.
We would like to investigate cashew nuts. If you have been lucky enough to taste one (yes, they are expensive), you will know just how delicious they are. Once you begin eating cashews, it’s very difficult to stop. Here’s something you may not have known about them until now. The cashew nut that you eat is not a nut at all. It’s the seed or kernel that grows inside a single nut found beneath a cashew apple from the cashew tree.
The red or yellow cashew fruit does not contain any seeds. Technically, that means they are not actually a fruit – even though they look like one. They taste a little like mango with a hint of grapefruit. It is unlikely that you will ever see one outside of Brazil because its skin is very thin and easily damaged. They do not travel well. In Brazil, they are eaten raw, drunk as juice, or turned into a delicious jam.
The nut is very hard. You have to be very careful if you crack it open. Inside is a poison that can badly burn your skin if you come into contact with it. The nut has to be roasted at a high temperature for 20 minutes before it is opened. This gets rid of the poison.
Once roasted, the nut is cracked and the cashew is taken out. It has a thin skin around it. This is peeled off carefully to make sure the cashew is not broken. The cashew is then roasted once more in coconut oil for 5 minutes. Then it’s ready to eat.
What has just been described is a long process. This is why cashews are expensive.
They are eaten all over the world. Sometimes straight from the packet. They are also popular ingredients in different styles of cooking, especially in Southeast Asia. Cashews can be found in nut butter, ice cream, cashew milk, and also cheese spread!
After learning about the cashew, we now have a real respect for it. We are thankful to the Portuguese who discovered the cashew tree in Brazil and brought it over to Asia. If it had not been for them, the Brazilians may have kept cashews all to themselves.
QUESTION:
VIDEO: Explore the products of a cashew nut factory in Phuket, Thailand
VOCABULARY
