However, it is available in local markets and has value as a fresh food, cooked in curries, fermented into vinegar and used to make preserves, chutneys, and jams. Following splitting, the nuts require tedious peeling and cleaning before moving along to grading, quality control, fumigation, and packaging.Īnd what about the cashew apple? The apple has a sweet flavor but a limited shelf life so it is not a marketable commodity in its fresh state. It is an irritant like that found in poison ivy causing skin burns and sores and other health issues if workers come in contact with it.

However, Vietnam has been successful at mechanizing the process and, thereby, have increased production rates and decreased the labor force.Īnother concern in cracking the shell, is the reddish-brown oil that oozes from the shell composed of various phenolic lipids. As a result manual processing is generally favored for nut perfection. If mechanical shelling machines are used, the shells are feed into the machines one at a time to split the shells however, since the shells vary in size and shape, there is breakage so machines are not a perfect solution. When done by hand, the workers beat the shell with a mallet in just the right way to release the nut unscathed. It is either done by hand or machine, but in either case, it is one shell at a time. Removing the nut from the shell is the most difficult step in processing. Extracting the nut from its shell is labor intense and requires a skilled workforce of which 90% are women who are paid meager wages.įollowing harvest, the shells are roasted and dried to make extracting the nut easier. The cashew nut industry in these countries (and other producing countries) provide vital year-round employment to millions of people, especially women. However, Vietnam is the largest producer of cashew nuts followed by India cashews are a valuable agricultural commodity for both counties. At the base of the fruit is a kidney-bean-shaped hard shell with a single seed inside–the cashew nut.Īfter reading and watching YouTube videos about cashew farming and harvesting, the process of separating the nut from the fruit, and the steps in production, we had a whole new appreciation of the snack we enjoy, so easily purchased at the supermarket and eaten without a thought.Ĭashews are gown in many parts of the world with origin in Brazil. The fruit resembles a small bell pepper being yellow to red in color. They grow on fruit producing trees which produce a ‘false fruit’ known as the cashew apple. Cashews are not really nuts in the true sense, but rather a drupe seed.

Images of cashew plant