Here in America most of you only know the nut of the cashew fruit; because is very perishable, it’s very hard to import the fresh fruit. As I mentioned before, I love Asian markets and I can always find exotic or tropical fruits every trip there. Finally I found a pack of frozen whole cashew fruit. So for only $4, I transported myself to a beautiful, warm beach town in Brazil with a fresh cashew juice at home, even if the warmth is coming from my heater and not a tropical sun, but a girl can daydream and be happy! The taste is hard to describe in terms of American fruits, perhaps the closest thing would be a pear, with a bit more earthiness and a fragrant tropical tone.
For those botanists or linguaphiles the technical name of the plant, Anacardium actually refers to the shape of the fruit, which looks like an inverted heart (ana means “upwards” and -cardium means “heart”). In the Tupian languages acajú means “nut that produces itself”.
While native to Northeast Brazil, the Portuguese took the cashew plant to Goa, India, between the years of 1560 and 1565. From there it spread throughout Southeast Asia and eventually Africa. In Brazil, the cashew fruit juice is popular all across the country. In Panama and Brazil, the cashew fruit is cooked with water and sugar for a prolonged time to make a sweet, brown, paste-like dessert called “dulce de marañón” or “doce de caju”. Marañón is one of the Spanish names for cashew.
Food Value Per 100 g of Fresh Cashew Apple
| Moisture | 84.4-88.7 g |
| Protein | 0.101-0.162 g |
| Fat | 0.05-0.50 g |
| Carbohydrates | 9.08-9.75 g |
| Fiber | 0.4-1.0 g |
| Ash | 0.19-0.34 g |
| Calcium | 0.9-5.4 mg |
| Phosphorus | 6.1-21.4 mg |
| Iron | 0.19-0.71 mg |
| Carotene | 0.03-0.742 mg |
| Thiamine | 0.023-0.03 mg |
| Riboflavin | 0.13-0.4 mg |
| Niacin | 0.13-0.539 mg |
| Ascorbic Acid | 146.6-372.0 mg |
*Analyses made in Central America and Cuba.
Medicinal Uses: Cashew apple juice, without removal of tannin, is prescribed as a remedy for sore throat and chronic dysentery in Cuba and Brazil. Fresh or distilled, it is a potent diuretic and is said to possess sudorific properties. The brandy is applied as a liniment to relieve the pain of rheumatism and neuralgia. (Source here)
If you want to try cashew juice and can’t find the frozen fruit like I did, most latin markets carry the concentrated juice bottle, which I have to tell you it’s NOT the same taste as fresh but it’s still pretty close.
