Cashew

Description

The cashew tree is large and evergreen, growing to 14 m tall, with a short, often irregularly shaped trunk. The leaves are spirally arranged, leathery textured, elliptic to obovate, 4-22 cm long and 2-15 cm broad, with smooth margins. The flowers are produced in a panicle or corymb up to 26 cm long; each flower is small, pale green at first, then turning reddish, with five slender, acute petals 7-15 mm long. The largest cashew tree in the world covers an area around 7500 m2 and is located in Parnamirim, Brazil.

The fruit of the cashew tree is an accessory fruit (sometimes called a pseudocarp or false fruit). What appears to be the fruit is an oval or pear-shaped structure, a hypocarpium, that develops from the pedicel and the receptacle of the cashew flower. Called the cashew apple, better known in Central America as marañón, it ripens into a yellow or red structure about 5–11 cm long.

The true fruit of the cashew tree is a kidney-shaped or boxing glove-shaped drupe that grows at the end of the cashew apple. The drupe first develops on the tree and then the pedicel expands to become the cashew apple. The drupe becomes the true fruit, a single shell-encased seed, which is often considered a nut in the culinary sense. The seed is surrounded by a double-shell that contains an allergenic phenolic resin, anacardic acid - which is a potent skin irritant chemically related to the better-known and also toxic allergenic oil urushiol, which is found in the related poison ivy and lacquer tree.

|Anacardium occidentale - Köhler–s Medizinal-Pflanzen-010.jpg|Botanical illustration |Cajueiro Meconta.jpg|Tree in Mozambique, southeastern Africa |Anacardium occidental (Bangla - কাজুবাদাম).jpg|Trunk in Bangladesh |Cashew Flower.JPG|Flowers| Pollen grains of Cashew tree.jpg|Pollen grains of Cashew tree |Young cashew nuts.jpg|Young fruits |Cashew fruit.jpg|Fruits sold as produce

Etymology

The English name derives from the Portuguese name for the fruit of the cashew tree: (), also known as , which itself is from the Tupi word acajú, literally meaning "nut that produces itself".

The generic name Anacardium is composed of the Greek prefix ana- (), the Greek cardia (), and the Neo-Latin suffix . It possibly refers to the heart shape of the fruit, to "the top of the fruit stem" or to the seed. The word anacardium was earlier used to refer to Semecarpus anacardium (the marking nut tree) before Carl Linnaeus transferred it to the cashew; both plants are in the same family. The epithet occidentale derives from the Western (or Occidental) world.

Distribution and habitat

The species is native to tropical South America and later was distributed around the world in the 1500s by Portuguese explorers. The Portuguese took it to Goa, formerly Estado da Índia Portuguesa in India, between 1560 and 1565. From there, it spread throughout Southeast Asia and eventually Africa.

Cultivation

The cashew tree is cultivated in the tropics between 25°N and 25°S, and is well-adapted to hot lowland areas with a pronounced dry season, where the mango and tamarind trees also thrive. The traditional cashew tree is tall, up to 14 m, requiring three years from planting before it starts production, and eight years before economic harvests.

More recent breeds, such as the dwarf cashew trees, are up to 6 m tall and start producing after the first year, with economic yields after three years. The cashew nut yields for the traditional tree are about 0.25 MT per hectare, in contrast to over a ton per hectare for the dwarf variety. Grafting and other modern tree management technologies improve and sustain cashew nut yields in commercial orchards.

Production

In 2023, global production of cashew nuts (as the kernel) was 3.9 million tonnes, led by Ivory Coast and India with a combined 46% of the world total (table).

Trade

Almost all cashews produced in Africa between 2000 and 2019 were exported as raw nuts which are much less profitable than shelled nuts. One of the goals of the African Cashew Alliance is to promote Africa's cashew processing capabilities to improve the profitability of Africa's cashew industry. Half of the world's cashews were sold by American retailer Costco, as of 2025.

Toxicity

Some people are allergic to cashews, but they are a less frequent allergen than other tree nuts or peanuts. For up to 6% of children and 3% of adults, consuming cashews may cause allergic reactions, ranging from mild discomfort to life-threatening anaphylaxis. These allergies are triggered by the proteins found in tree nuts, and cooking often does not remove or change these proteins. Reactions to cashew and tree nuts can also occur as a consequence of hidden nut ingredients or traces of nuts that may inadvertently be introduced during food processing, handling, or manufacturing. An estimated 1.8 million Americans (between 0.4%–0.6% of the population) have an allergy to tree nuts. Young children are most affected; and tree nut allergies tend to last for a lifetime. Some regions of the world have higher incidence rates than others.

The shell of the cashew nut contains oil compounds that can cause contact dermatitis similar to poison ivy, primarily resulting from the phenolic lipids, anacardic acid, and cardanol. Because it can cause dermatitis, cashews are typically not sold in the shell to consumers. Cardanol, which can be readily and inexpensively extracted from the waste shells, is under research for its potential applications in nanomaterials and biotechnology.

Uses

Nutrition

Raw cashew nuts are 5% water, 30% carbohydrates, 44% fat, and 18% protein (table). In a 100-gram reference amount, raw cashews provide 553 kilocalories, 67% of the Daily Value (DV) in total fats, 36% DV of protein, 13% DV of dietary fiber, and 11% DV of carbohydrates. Cashew nuts are rich sources (20% or more of the DV) of dietary minerals, including particularly copper, manganese, phosphorus, and magnesium (79-110% DV), and of thiamin, vitamin B6, and vitamin K (32-37% DV). Iron, potassium, zinc, and selenium are present in significant content (14-61% DV) (table). Cashews (100g, raw) contain 113 mg of beta-sitosterol.

Nut and shell

Culinary uses for cashew seeds in snacking and cooking are similar to those for all tree seeds called nuts.

Cashews are commonly used in Indian cuisine, whole for garnishing sweets or curries, or ground into a paste that forms a base of sauces for curries (e.g., korma), or some sweets (e.g., kaju barfi). It is also used in powdered form in the preparation of several Indian sweets and desserts. In Goan cuisine, both roasted and raw kernels of Goa Kaju are used whole for making curries and sweets. Cashews are also used in Thai and Chinese cuisines, generally in whole form. In the Philippines, cashew is a known product of Antipolo and is eaten with suman. The province of Pampanga also has a sweet dessert called turrones de casuy, which is cashew marzipan wrapped in white wafers. In Indonesia, roasted and salted cashews are called kacang mete or kacang mede, while the cashew apple is called jambu monyet (lit. 'monkey rose apple').

In the 21st century, cashew cultivation increased in several African countries to meet the manufacturing demands for cashew milk, a plant milk alternative to dairy milk. In Mozambique, bolo polana is a cake prepared using powdered cashews and mashed potatoes as the main ingredients. This dessert is common in South Africa.

|Women preparing cashew, Burkina Faso.jpg|Women shelling cashews in Burkina Faso, West Africa |Shelling cashews.jpg|A woman using a machine to shell cashews in Thailand, wearing gloves to protect against contact dermatitis |CashewSnack.jpg|Salted, roasted cashew nuts |Cashew - sprout.jpg|Cashew sprouts are eaten raw or cooked.}}

Husk

The cashew nut kernel has a slight curvature and two cotyledons, each representing around 20-25% of the weight of the nut. It is encased in a reddish-brown membrane called a husk, which accounts for approximately 5% of the total nut. Cashew nut husk is used in emerging industrial applications, such as an adsorbent, composites, biopolymers, dyes, and enzyme synthesis.

Apple

The mature cashew apple can be eaten fresh, cooked in curries, or fermented into vinegar, citric acid, or an alcoholic drink. It is also used to make preserves, chutneys, and jams in some countries, such as India and Brazil. In many countries, particularly in South America, the cashew apple is used to flavor drinks, both alcoholic and nonalcoholic.

In Brazil, cashew fruit juice and fruit pulp are used to make sweets, and juice mixed with alcoholic beverages such as cachaça, and as flour, milk, or cheese. In Panama, the cashew fruit is cooked with water and sugar for a prolonged time to make a sweet, brown, paste-like dessert called dulce de marañón (marañón being a Spanish name for cashew).

Cashew nuts are more widely traded than cashew apples, because the fruit, unlike the nut, is easily bruised and has a very limited shelf life. Cashew apple juice, however, may be used for manufacturing blended juices such as cajuína.

When the apple is consumed, its astringency is sometimes removed by steaming the fruit for five minutes before washing it in cold water. Steeping the fruit in boiling salt water for five minutes reduces the astringency.

In Cambodia, where the plant is usually grown as an ornamental rather than an economic tree, the fruit is a delicacy and is eaten with salt.

Alcohol

In the Indian state of Goa, the ripened cashew apples are mashed, and the juice, called "neero", is extracted and kept for fermentation for a few days. This fermented juice then undergoes a double distillation process. The resulting beverage is called feni or fenny. Feni is about 40–42% alcohol (80–84 proof). The single-distilled version is called urrak, which is about 15% alcohol (30 proof). In Tanzania, the cashew apple (bibo in Swahili) is dried and reconstituted with water and fermented, then distilled to make a strong liquor called gongo.

|Distilling caju apple liquor in Mogovolas.jpg|Distilling cashew apple liquor (muchekele) in Mozambique, southeastern Africa |Shrivelled and fermented cashew apples ready for distillation.jpg|Cashew apples spread for drying and subsequent storage before reconstitution in water and later fermentation, Mozambique

Nut oil

Cashew nut oil is a dark yellow oil derived from pressing the cashew nuts (typically from lower-value broken chunks created accidentally during processing) and used for cooking or salad dressing. The highest quality oil is produced from a single cold pressing.

Shell oil

Cashew nutshell liquid (CNSL) or cashew shell oil (CAS registry number 8007-24-7) is a natural resin with a yellowish sheen found in the honeycomb structure of the cashew nutshell, and is a byproduct of processing cashew nuts. Since it is a strong irritant, it should not be confused with edible cashew nut oil. It is dangerous to handle in small-scale processing of the shells, but is itself a raw material with multiple uses. It is used in tropical folk medicine and for anti-termite treatment of timber. Its composition varies depending on how it is processed.

• Cold, solvent-extracted CNSL is mostly composed of anacardic acids (70%),
• Heating CNSL decarboxylates the anacardic acids, producing a technical grade of CNSL that is rich in cardanol. Distillation of this material gives distilled, technical CNSL containing 78% cardanol and 8% cardol (cardol has one more hydroxyl group than cardanol). This process also reduces the degree of thermal polymerization of the unsaturated alkyl-phenols present in CNSL.
• Anacardic acid is also used in the chemical industry for the production of cardanol, which is used for resins, coatings, and frictional materials.

These substances are skin allergens, like lacquer and the oils of poison ivy, and they present a danger during manual cashew processing.

This natural oil phenol has interesting chemical structural features that can be modified to create a wide spectrum of biobased monomers. These capitalize on the chemically-versatile construct, which contains three functional groups: The aromatic ring, the hydroxyl group, and the double bonds in the flanking alkyl chain. These include polyols, which have recently seen increased demand for their biobased origin and key chemical attributes such as high reactivity, range of functionalities, reduction in blowing agents, and naturally occurring fire retardant properties in the field of rigid polyurethanes, aided by their inherent phenolic structure and larger number of reactive units per unit mass.

CNSL may be used as a resin for carbon composite products. CNSL-based novolac is another versatile industrial monomer deriving from cardanol typically used as a reticulating agent (hardener) for epoxy matrices in composite applications providing good thermal and mechanical properties to the final composite material.

Animal feed

Discarded cashew nuts are unfit for human consumption and the residues of oil extraction from cashew kernels can be fed to livestock. Animals can also eat the leaves of cashew trees.

Other uses

In addition to its nut and fruit, the plant has several other uses. In Cambodia, the bark gives a yellow dye, the timber is used in boat-making, and for house-boards, and the wood makes excellent charcoal. The shells yield a black oil used as a preservative and waterproofing agent in varnishes, cement, and as a lubricant or timber seal.

Timber is used to manufacture furniture, boats, packing crates, and charcoal. Its juice turns black on exposure to air, providing an indelible ink.

References

References

1. Barstow, M.. (2021). "''Anacardium occidentale''".
2. (7 April 2020). "Cashew". Encyclopedia Britannica.
3. Morton, Julia F.. (1987). "Cashew apple, ''Anacardium occidentale'' L.; In: Fruits of Warm Climates". Center for New Crops and Plant Products, Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Purdue University, W. Lafayette, Indiana.
4. (20 November 2019). "''Anacardium occidentale'' (cashew nut)". CABI.
5. (1964). "Anatomy of the pseudocarp in ''Anacardium occidentale'' L.". Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Section B.
6. (1983). "''Anacardium occidentale'' L.". Handbook of Energy Crops. (unpublished); In: NewCROP, New Crop Resource Online Program, Center for New Crops and Plant Products, Purdue University.
7. "Growth and production of cashew nut". Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems.
8. Quattrocchi, Umberto. (2016). "World Dictionary of Medicinal and Poisonous Plants". CRC.
9. ''Merriam-Webster'': "from the heartlike shape of the top of the fruit stem"
10. George Milbry Gould. (1898). "An Illustrated Dictionary of Medicine, Biology and Allied Sciences: Including the Pronunciation, Accentuation, Derivation, and Definition of the Terms Used in Medicine, Anatomy, Surgery ...". P. Blakiston.
11. Hugh F. Glen. (2004). "What's in a Name". Jacana.
12. (2020). "Occidental". The Free Dictionary.
13. "Anacardium occidentale L.". Royal Botanic Gardens Kew.
14. (20 October 2015). "Cashew". Department of Horticulture, Cornell University.
15. Portuguese colonists in Brazil began exporting cashew nuts as early as the 1550s.Carolyn Joystick, "Cashew Industry" in ''Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture'', vol. 2, p. 5. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons 1996.
16. (2025). "Cashew production in 2023; pick lists from world regions/production quantity/year". [[FAOSTAT]] of the [[United Nations.
17. "Cultivating Cashew Nuts". ARC-Institute for Tropical and Subtropical Crops, South Africa.
18. Ian Duncan. "Growers Manual for Production of Cashew: Nursery and Plantation". United States Agency for International Development.
19. (1995). "Fruit of Indonesia". PT Mekar Unggul Sari.
20. Desai A.R.. (2010). "Techniques And Practices For Cashew Production". ICAR Research Complex for Goa.
21. Nelle, Patrick. (2022-02-28). "Can Africa cash in on its cashew nut domination?".
22. (2023-09-29). "ACA seeks creation of cashew development fund to enhance raw nuts processing in Africa". [[The Guardian (Nigeria).
23. Howe, Ben Ryder. (2024-08-20). "How Costco Hacked the American Shopping Psyche". The New York Times.
24. Rosen, T.. (April 1994). "Cashew Nut Dermatitis". Southern Medical Journal.
25. (2018). "Current perspectives on tree nut allergy: a review". Journal of Asthma and Allergy.
26. McWilliam V.. (2015). "The prevalence of tree nut allergy: a systematic review". Current Allergy and Asthma Reports.
27. (2010). "Cashew Allergies". Informall Database – funded by European Union.
28. (2006). "Food allergies". World Health Organization, International Food Safety Authorities Network.
29. "Cashew - allergy information (InformAll: Communicating about Food Allergies - University of Manchester)".
30. (2012). "Tree nuts – allergy education". The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network.
31. [//web.archive.org/web/20100628153155/http://www.foodallergy.org/files/FoodAllergyFactsandStatistics.pdf Food Allergy Facts and Statistics for the United States]
32. Rosen T.. (1994). "Cashew nut dermatitis". South Med J.
33. (6 September 2013). "Why Cashews Aren't Sold In The Shell". Moment of Science, Indiana Public Media.
34. Hamad F. B.. (2015). "Potential biological applications of bio-based anacardic acids and their derivatives". Int J Mol Sci.
35. (2015). "Full Report (All Nutrients): 12087, Nuts, cashew nuts, raw, database version SR 27". Agricultural Research Service – United States Department of Agriculture.
36. Osborn M. (26 August 2015). "Access to Market Data and Supply Chain Visibility offer Economic Boost to Ghana Cashew Farmers". Consumer Goods Technology.
37. Phillippa Cheifitz. (2009). "South Africa Eats". Quivertree Publications.
38. (2023-01-01). "Valorisation of agro-waste cashew nut husk (Testa) for different value-added products". Sustainable Chemistry for Climate Action.
39. Africa, Nigeria. (2022-07-17). "How Nigeria can turn its huge cashew waste into valuable citric acid".
40. Edi Souza. (28 July 2018). "It's cashew time at the fair and on the plate (translated)". Folha de Pernambuco.
41. O, Odalys. (2011-10-15). "Dulces de mi campiña, Panamá: Dulce de Marañón".
42. Strom, Stephanie. (8 August 2014). "Cashew Juice, the Apple of Pepsi's Eye". The New York Times.
43. Azam-Ali and Judge. (2004). "Small-scale cashew nut processing". FAO, United Nations.
44. "Cashew Drink Stages".
45. "Eating in Tanzania".
46. "Cashew Oil". Smart Kitchen.
47. "Exposure and Use Data for Cashew Nut Shell Liquid". [[United States Environmental Protection Agency]].
48. Alexander H. Tullo. (8 September 2008). "A Nutty Chemical". [[Chemical and Engineering News]].
49. Clay, Jason. (March 2004). "World Agriculture and the Environment: A Commodity-By-Commodity Guide To Impacts And Practices". Island Press.
50. Ferri, Enrico. (22 May 2011). "Bioresins Derived from Cashew Nutshell Oil". MaterialsToday.
51. (2023-01-27). "Bio-based novolac resins from cashew nut processing waste: Alternative resource for the development of high-value sustainable products". Journal of Applied Polymer Science.
52. (May 2011). "Bio-resins from cashew nutshell oil". Reinforced Plastics.
53. (2017). "Cashew (Anacardium occidentale) nuts and by-products".
54. (2000). "Plants Utilised In Cambodia/Plantes utilisées au Cambodge". Imprimerie Olympic.