Cashew

Name	Cashew
Peak season	December-April
Uses	hand-fruit, juice, sweets, jelly, wine, vinegar, toasted snack
Vegetation	tree
Scientific Name	Anacardium occidentale
Spanish Name	marañón

Cashews are extravagant fruits that have many different uses. They originate in tropical America, and the cashew fruit has one small but tough external nut. The fruit itself has a smooth exterior, similar to paprika. Scientifically, the small seed is the real fruit and the paprika-like ‘fruit’ is the peduncle (part that unites the fruit and the tree). In Nicaragua there are two types of cashew: yellow and red ones.

The seed, or nut, is the most valuable part. It is roasted to create a delicious, dry nut with high levels of oil and protein. During the peak season, there are many market vendors offering packages of cashew nuts, and in Managua there are street vendors selling them around traffic lights.

The paprika-like fruit of the cashew (in fact not the fruit) can be eaten as fresh fruit or it can be turned into a juice. It has a rather acid but tasteful flavor, and the juice should not be spilled because it can create hard-to-remove stains in clothes. This part of the cashew is also processed to create sweets and jellies, and it is fermented to produce wine and home-vinegar. It contains high levels of vitamin C, superior to levels in most other fruits.

This fruit grows on medium sized trees that start producing cashews after two years. This tree is found mostly at the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua, and in certain parts of the Caribbean Coast. The peak season runs from December to April, with the highest peak near the end of this period.