National Chocolate Covered Cashews Day is observed each year on April 21st. The cashew is a tree from the familyAnacardiaceae. Its English name comes from Portuguese the fruit of the cashew tree “caju.” Originally native to Northeastern Brazil, cashew trees are now widely grown in tropical climates for its cashew fruit and nuts.
Surprisingly, the shell of the cashew nut is toxic, which is why the cashew is shelled before it is sold to consumers. The cashew nut is a very popular snack with a rich flavor. They are a well-known favorite during the holidays, but can be enjoyed anytime throughout the year.
From Foodimentary:
Five Food Finds about Cashews
- Pistachio, mango, cashew and poison ivy are in the same family.
- Cashews are native to Costa Rica and Central America. The fresh cashew nut has a substance inside that produce a big burn and rash in skin and mouth, at the same time this is a highly valuable product known as Cashew Nut Shell Liquid or CNSL, ingredient that have special structural features for transformation into specialty chemicals and high value polymers, this is important considering the fact that, since this is a renewable resource, is better than synthetics.
- One thing is the cashew nut and a different thing is the cashew apple, this last one is a kind of fruit to which it’s attached the nut, this fleshy fruit has an aroma some people love while others dislike, the most common way of preparation of this fruit is doing a tasteful juice mixed with water and sugar.
- Cashews in Costa Rica are harvested during March and April.
- A quite interesting experience is to burn in wood fire a raw cashew nut, this CNSL is highly flammable and while it burns produces impressive tiny explosions. Kids shouldn’t try this without parent’s supervision. Gases and fumes can also irritate, so this experiment should be done in open spaces.
