Do you want to know if peanuts are a nut or a fruit? From what I’ve seen, cashews are a famous snack that are sometimes called nuts, even though they are not botanically a nut.
Cashews come from the seeds of the cashew tree fruit. Like almonds and walnuts, cashews are a stone fruit.
When it comes to plants, cashews are actually seeds because they come from the cashew fruit, which is also called a drupe.
That’s not all, though. As you read on, I’ll teach you more about the subject.
It’s time to begin.
Is cashew nut a fruit
Yes, The cashew tree’s fruit is the cashew nut. The Portuguese brought this tree to Africa and India in the 1600s. It was originally from Brazil.
It can get as tall as 10 m. The shape of the cashew nut is kidney-shaped. This thing is connected below a “false fruit” that forms as the flower stem grows.
It’s called a “cashew apple” even though it looks like a pear.
There is only one nut on each “apple.” The cashew nut is about 3 cm long and is made up of two shells and an almond with a thin skin covering it.
The inside shell is very tough and tough to break. Between the two shells is an oily, poisonous, and very acidic material.
This material burns and blisters your skin if you try to get the nuts out with your fingers.
Although many people stress the “nuts” in “cashews,” they are actually stone fruits. There are fruits on the tree that are called cashew tree fruits. The cashew seed hangs at the bottom of the fruit.
What is the name of the tree where the cashew nut grows
The tree’s name is A species that lives in Brazil and is called Jalall. The Cashew tree, on the other hand, has leaves that stay green all year and are very branching.
Its fruit has a soft part on the outside that looks like an apple (a fake fruit) and a hard part that looks like the famous cashew nut.
Most of the cashew nuts that are sold in Europe are from Asia, mostly from China, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
At the moment, Jalall gets its organic peanuts from Vietnam. A cashew tree grows in a warm area and gives us cashew apples and the nuts that are inside them.
But Asia and Africa are the main places that grow cashew nuts. Vietnam grows the most cashew nuts, about 40% of the world’s total production.
India, which is the world’s second-largest provider, comes next. The Ivory Coast, Brazil, and Indonesia are next.
What are cashew nuts used for
Even though they are small, cashew nuts are good for you. A healthy amount of cashew nuts is good for you because they have many macro and vitamins.
The cashew nut can be used in many ways so that as many people as possible can enjoy its health benefits. It can be an aperitif, a snack, a part of spicy or sweet meals.
A lot of selenium
There is a lot of selenium in cashew nuts. People don’t always know about this mineral, but it is very important to the body because it is part of some antioxidant enzymes and helps fight free radicals.
Furthermore, selenium boosts defense, which is helpful in the fight against some diseases.
Salt and cashew nuts
The mineral magnesium also makes a big difference. A 100-gram serving of cashew nuts has 280 mg of salt. About half of the magnesium in the body is found in bone tissue alone.
This mineral helps keep the breakdown of carbs and fats in check in muscle, heart, and nerve tissue. In addition, magnesium makes it easier for muscles to tighten and move.
Cashew nuts and health benefits
There is a lot of vitamin B1 in cashew nuts. Vitamin B1 is mostly involved in breaking down carbs and fats. This vitamin dissolves in water and is very important for the body.
What are the 3 Big Problems of Cashew Nuts
Right now, this vegetable is very in style. This dried fruit is great for vegans and health-conscious people because it is useful and good for you in many ways.
There is no doubt that it has a lot of enzymes, vitamins, and minerals. Many plant-based cooks use it to make fake meats or rich creams, like the kind you’d use in a pie.
But there are a few problems with this nut. Should we shell them all at once? Let’s go:
1. Taking advantage of cashew workers
Once they are picked, these nuts need to be shelled before they can be sent to Europe, where people will eat them seasoned, grilled, or salted. I’m afraid this work is not easy.
And most of the people who shell are women. This is something that about 50,000 women in India do. Because of this, they have to spend all day peeling the precious nut’s bark by hand.
In India, the normal rate is 0.25 cents per kilogram shelled, which is €2.5 per day for 10 kg. This is not at all enough to live on.
In France, on the other hand, a kilo costs around 20 to 30 euros… That’s 100 times more than what women get paid to work!
So, the first problem is an ethical one: can we keep eating this food if we know that the conditions in which it is made are not good for people or respectful of their rights?
2-The shellers’ burned hands
The fact that the cashew fruit is poisonous is another big problem with this use of it. Cardol and anacardic acid, two harsh and sensitive chemicals, are found in the husk that surrounds the nut.
Because of this, these will burn the women who shell. And hurt them and make it hard to treat accidents. There are many more health problems besides these ones, such as eye pain, sleep problems, vision problems, and so on.
It’s too bad that gloves don’t cover and don’t let you peel properly.
Also, the second problem has to do with health: can we really let women, men, and kids burn their hands for a fruit they won’t even like?
3. The price of making and importing
India, Africa, and South America are where most cashew nuts are grown and prepared.
Because of this, shipping them to Europe or North America changes the temperature because it adds greenhouse gases to the air.
As you might expect, this export doesn’t have as much of an effect as some others. It does cost something, though.
So, the third problem is with the environment.
How do you gather peanuts and turn them into nuts?
Most of the cashew nuts that are sold in Europe come from Central Africa and Asia. Only peeled and roasted cashews are sold here because the raw material goes bad quickly.
These are pretty pricey because they have to be carefully gathered and processed:
1. You can pick up the ripe cashew apples as soon as they fall to the ground and separate the cashew seeds from them.
2. First, the stone fruits are dried, usually in the sun but more often now with machines.
3. The shell must then be removed because it includes the deadly cashew shell oil (cashew nutshell liquid, CNSL for short). This keeps animals from eating the nuts in the wild, and it is also used in industry and medicine.
4. Using steam is the safest way to take off the shells. This keeps the dangerous CNSL in the shell, and the cashews are safe to eat.
They are broken up by hand, taken out of any shells that are still there, and put into groups.
Most of the time, though, the oily shell is taken off in 200-degree Celsius cooking kettles that give off dangerous fumes. The quality of the peanuts is also hurt by this.
5. Cashew nuts aren’t always very good because the people who grow them don’t wait for the cashew apples to ripen so that they don’t go bad so fast.
But along with the unripe pseudofruits, peanuts that are not yet ready are also picked.
6. Cashews are often baked and salted or fried as a snack. The nuts have also been used for many years to make cashew butter, vegan cream, and cashew drinks that can be used instead of milk.
You can even buy alternatives to cream cheese and a lot of different kinds of “cheese” made from nuts that have been ripened.
Final thought
We now know that cashews are nuts, but they are not plant nuts. Instead, they are the pieces of the cashew fruit.
A lot of people like to snack on them. They taste fine and slightly sweet. Many Asian recipes taste better with cashews added on top. They go well with noodles, rice, and vegetable meals.
In contrast, cashew fruit has up to 20% protein, more of the important amino acid tryptophan than any other food, and the best taste of any food.
The cashew nut is a real superfood just because of that.
