Cookbook | Recipes | Ingredients | Nuts and Seeds
Cashew is the seed of the cashew tree, Anacardium occidentale. It is used in Asian cuisine, snacks, and desserts. (The tree also produces an apple", that is also edible).
The cashew nut is a popular, and its rich flavor means that it is often eaten on its own, lightly salted or sugared. Cashew nuts also factor in Thai cuisine and Chinese cuisine, generally in whole form, and in Indian cuisine, often ground into sauces such as shahi korma, and also used as garnish in Indian sweets and desserts. The cashew nut can also be used in cheese alternatives for vegans, typically in homemade cheese recipes.
In Malaysia, the young leaves are often eaten raw as salad or with sambal belacan (shrimp paste mixed with chili and lime).
In Brazil, the cashew fruit juice is popular all across the country. Additionally, visitors to northeastern areas such as Fortaleza will often find cashew nut vendors selling the nuts for low cost, salted in a plastic bag upon purchase.
In the Philippines, cashew is a known product of Antipolo, and is eaten with suman. Pampanga also has a sweet dessert called turrones de casuy which is cashew marzipan wrapped in white wafer.
In Goa, India, the pseudofruit is mashed and mixed with water and sugar and used to make Feni (a popular liquor) by fermentation.
In the southern region of Mtwara, Tanzania, the pseudofruit is dried and saved. Later it is reconstituted with water and fermented, then distilled to make a strong liquor often referred to by the generic name, Gongo.
In Mozambique it is very common among the cashew farmers to make a strong liquor from the pseudofruit which is called "agua ardente" (burning water). Many times it gives a small additional income to widows and single mothers to sell this liquor per cup, per bottle or per jerry can.