- og = certified organically produced
- gf = gluten free
- v = vegan
- ft = fair trade
- st = stock item
- x = not splittable (whole case only)
Cashew
The cashew (Anacardium occidentale; syn. Anacardium curatellifolium A.St.-Hil.) is a tree in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The plant is native to northeastern Brazil. It is a small evergreen tree growing to 10 to 12m tall, with a short, often irregularly shaped trunk. The leaves are spirally arranged, leathery textured, elliptic-obovate, 4-22cm long and 2-15cm broad, with a smooth margin. The flowers are produced in a panicle or corymb up to 26cm long, each flower small, pale green at first then turning reddish, with five slender, acute petals 7-15mm long. Its English name derives from the Portuguese name for the fruit of the cashew tree, caju, which in turn derives from the indigenous Tupi name, "acaju" -not, as previously thought, "agadoo". The caashew tree is now widely grown in tropical climates for its cashew "nuts" and "apples". What appears to be the fruit of the cashew tree is an oval or pear-shaped accessory fruit or false fruit that develops from the receptacle of the cashew flower. This is called the cashew apple, better known in Central America as "jocote de maranon", it ripens into a yellow and/or red structure about 5-11cm long. It is edible, and has a strong "sweet" smell and a sweet taste. The pulp of the cashew apple is very juicy, but the skin is fragile, making it unsuitable for transport. It is often used as a flavour in agua fresca. The true fruit of the cashew tree is a kidney or boxing-glove shaped drupe that grows at the end of the pseudofruit. The drupe develops first on the tree, and then the peduncle expands into the pseudofruit. Within the true fruit is a single seed, the cashew nut. Although a nut in the culinary sense, in the botanical sense the fruit of the cashew is a seed. The seed is surrounded by a double shell containing a dermatogenic phenolic resin, urushiol, a potent skin irritant toxin also found in the related poison ivy. Some people are allergic to cashew nuts, but cashews are a less frequent allergen than nuts or peanuts
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