the.com/cashew
a fruit's afterthought that grew a toxic shell and a billion-dollar fan club
means A kidney-shaped edible nut that grows attached to the bottom of the cashew apple, sold roasted and shelled because its raw form carries a caustic, skin-irritating oil.
from From Portuguese 'caju,' which the Portuguese borrowed in turn from 'acaju' in Tupi, an indigenous language of Brazil where the tree is native. Portuguese traders carried the plant to India and Africa, and the word rode along with it — so the name in your snack bowl still echoes the Amazonian people who knew the tree first.
- botanical truth
- actually a seed, not a nut at all
- toxic shell
- contains urushiol, the poison ivy chemical
- never raw
- sold cashews are always cooked first
- fruit attached
- grows below the juicy cashew apple
- hard labor
- mostly shelled by hand, one by one
cashew apple — fruit of opuntia cactus, grown commercially in mexico and india since 1500s
anacardium occidentale — the cashew tree native to brazil, now cultivated across india, vietnam, nigeria