The apples are considered a secondary crop to the seed and are often detached and discarded onto the ground below the trees, left as food for livestock. Cashew apples are often overshadowed in cultivation by the famous seed, mistakenly called a nut in commercial markets. Cashew apples are also sometimes referred to as Cashew fruits and are known by regional names, including Marañón in Central America, Anacardier or Acajou in France, Jambu Monyet or Jambu Monet in Indonesia and Malaysia, Merey in Venezuela, Caju, Pomme de Cajou, or Cajueiro in Portugal, Maranon or Cajuil in Puerto Rico, and Mamuang or Himmalphan in Thailand. It generally takes 2.5 to 3 months for the apples to develop after flowering. When the seed becomes fully grown, the apple later forms, swelling into its plump, fleshy shape. One unusual characteristic of the species is that the seed develops before the apple. The “true” fruit is the shell that contains the cashew seed attached to the end of the fleshy receptacle. Cashew apples are known as an "accessory" or "false" fruit, meaning they are not botanically a true fruit as they do not encase the seeds of the plant. The fleshy receptacles grow on evergreen trees reaching 6 to 14 meters in height, depending on the rootstock, and hang from slender stems attached to the branches, falling off the tree when ripe. The interior shell is hard and must be cracked to find the seed inside.Ĭashew apples are available year-round in tropical climates.Ĭashew apples, botanically classified as Anacardium occidentale, are a tropical species belonging to the Anacardiaceae family. This viscous resin is harmful if touched and can cause blisters, rashes, and intense skin irritations, similar to poison ivy. In between the outer shell and interior shell is a red-brown, oily resin encased in honeycomb-like cells. Attached to the apples is a double-hulled shell encasing a kidney-shaped seed, which is the raw form of the well-known cashew "nut." The exterior surface is smooth and thin, ripening from olive green to pale brown. Many liken the flavor of Cashew apples to a blend of bell peppers, mangoes, cucumbers, and strawberries with an initially sweet, nutty taste followed by astringency. Cashew apples release a distinct aroma comprised of a blend of fruity, sweet, and pungent nuances, and the flesh has a sweet, tropical, and vegetal taste mixed with astringency. Underneath the surface, the yellow flesh is dense, aqueous, fleshy, spongy, and soft containing many chewy, stringy fibers. The receptacle's skin is thin, smooth, taut, and waxy, showcasing golden yellow, red, to variegated blends of red and yellow hues when mature. Cashew apples are small to medium in size, averaging 5 to 11 centimeters in length, and have a bulbous oval, conical, to blocky, pyriform shape.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |