Plant · P-522

Cashew Apple

Anacardium occidentale

Cashew is a tropical tree grown for two crops from the same fruit: the kernel, which has to be roasted to destroy a caustic shell liquid before it is safe to eat, and the swollen stalk beneath it - the cashew apple - which is eaten fresh or made into juice, jam and spirits but is too fragile to travel far. The raw shell liquid blisters skin much like poison ivy, so nothing from the shell is handled or fed raw; heat destroys the irritant. Established trees are drought-tolerant and thrive on poor coastal sand, but the tree is frost-tender and needs a distinct dry season to set fruit well.