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    You are Here: Masala Herb » Recipes » Exotic Ingredients

    How to roast Cashews - How to prepare Cashew Fruit

    Dec 21, 2022 by Helene Dsouza

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    Helene Dsouza
    A guide on how to prepare and cut a cashew fruit, aka caju.
    Total Time: 5 minutes minutes
    Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes
    RECIPE
    How to roast Cashews - How to prepare Cashew Fruit

    I am sharing how to roast cashews and how to prepare the Cashew Fruit.

    This post is meant to educate how to roast small quantities of raw cashews in the outdoors and you will understand why further below.

    How to roast Cashews - How to prepare Cashew Fruit
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    Jump to:
    • 🔪 How to roast cashews outdoors?
    • 📜 How to prepare a Cashew Fruit?
    • 📖 Recipe
    • 📖 Recipe
    • 💬 Comments

    Cashews have turned, in the last few years, into a prime snack time choice for health-conscious people in the western world.

    Cashew nuts have always been regarded as a small luxury and people use them in sweets and curries.

    While cashew "nuts" have been very expensive and were rather rare some 10+ years ago, this somehow changed and we ended up with more choices of acquiring a few grams of precious cashews in our local super stores.

    Former Portuguese colonies would call the cashew fruit (yes there is a cashew fruit!) and cashews their day to day staple, the rest of the world remained oblivious to its existence for a long time, due to the high rates in the supermarkets.

    This started to change in the past 10 years when demand couldn't be fulfilled and the world decided to commercialize cashews en masse so that the western world could have a "bite", while reducing the buying rate of the luxury nut extremely.

    This may sound good to you, but there is a problem with that.

    You see, the cashew nut" has a special shell which has toxic properties in the roasting process and you need to roast to get the hard outer shell of the main seed/nut inside.

    So while roasting small quantities is not a problem at all, this changes when people work, badly equipped and without gloves, to roast massive amounts of cashews while being paid almost nothing.

    You can read the report about the cashew nut problem in the Guardian and the Telegraph.

    Yes there is a dark side to the cashew nut production and yes it should be addressed to alleviate the peoples living conditions in India.

    After all, a lot of people are depending on the export of cashews and they make a living with it.

    Buy Fair-trade Cashews if you enjoy cashews! 

    How to roast Cashews - How to prepare Cashew Fruit

    Cashews are healthy too, so we shouldn't just forget about these special nutritious natural snack time treats completely.

    Local people in Goa (former Portuguese colony in India) still roast small quantities of cashew nuts in the outdoors in the evenings.

    The traditionally roasted cashews have a very intense flavor, which can't be compared to the store bought cashews which are available in Europe.

    Most of the former Portuguese tropical colonies roast cashews when they are in season which is now, from March to June.

    This includes Brazil in South America, Mozambique in Africa and South East Asian States such as Vietnam, Indonesia and Philippine.

    There is more to the Cashew, in fact, did you know that there is a bright orange/yellow fruit?

    Well, I was quite intrigued when I saw it in real time, but more about that further below.

    How to roast Cashews - How to prepare Cashew Fruit

    Cashews actually originated in South America and only thanks to the much traveling Portuguese conquerors was it introduced to the tropical Indian coastline state Goa.

    You might recall how I had explained in my Spice Garden post how Vasco da Gamma and his lot had ended up here in Goa, India.

    The cashew tree thrives in a tropical climate, therefore, the cultivation is still limited to countries near the equator.

    On top of that, it takes a while to grow these fruits, in fact, they grow only once a year, so that the nuts (which are, in the botanic society, considered seeds) can be harvested, dried and roasted for the commercial sale.

    So, how to roast cashews?

    It makes sense to collect the nuts and to roast them yourself at home (if you have a garden or veranda or something similar and of course if the raw un-shelled nuts are available in your surrounding).

    I had gone to the Mapusa market to buy a kg of raw Cashew nuts (about 100 INR = ~1,50 €). On top of that, I got a few proper whole Cashew fruits from my neighbor's tree with the seed/nut still firmly stuck on the fruit, so that you get an idea what the fruit looks like.

    As you can see in the picture the orange/yellow Cashew fruit is on top and the nut in the shell in hanging downwards.

    How to roast Cashews - How to prepare Cashew Fruit

    🔪 How to roast cashews outdoors?

    So, now let's get to the point to where we will prepare our green cashew seed pods for the process of extracting crunchy and freshly roasted nuts.

    First of all, you need to keep the green seeds to dry in the sun for a few days.

    We kept ours about 5 days in the hot Indian summer sun before my husband decided that they were about right to be roasted.

    The seeds are ready to be roasted when they lose their green color and have turned brown/grey by the sun rays.

    Learn how to roast cashews below in the instructions.

    How to roast Cashews - How to prepare Cashew Fruit

    📜 How to prepare a Cashew Fruit?

    The Cashew fruit, also known as caju in Goa, has a purpose as well. You can eat it! The surprising part of the fruit is that it is tasting rather super delicious.

    I would describe the aroma and flavor as a mixture between Mango, Green Chili, and Jackfruit and with a hint of acidic notes.

    I am not sure why the fruit has never been commercialized in the world, compared to the mango. The reason might be because the fruit pulp tends to turn mushy really fast and is therefore not suitable for transportation.

    If you would see this fruit in your local grocery market, would you actually know how to cut and prepare a cashew fruit?

    Yes, the fruit is tricky and when looking at the cashew fruit, it gives you the impression that the fruit is a plastic replica, yet in fact it's a very fleshy and juicy fruit full of flavors.

    Below I explain how to prepare a cashew fruit.

    📖 Recipe

    How to roast Cashews - How to prepare Cashew Fruit

    How to prepare cashew fruits

    A guide on how to prepare and cut a cashew fruit, aka caju.
    4.41 from 5 votes
    Print Rate
    Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes
    Total Time: 5 minutes minutes
    Recipe by: Helene Dsouza

    Ingredients

    • Cashew Fruits Fresh firm either yellow or orange

    Instructions

    • Take a Cashew fruit in your hand. You can remove the seed/nut first then cut off the top part of the fruit where the seed was attached too.
      How to roast Cashews – Traditional Goan roasting of raw Cashews – The Caju Fruit
    • This part of the fruit is rather astringent and should be removed if you want to avoid throat itching sensations. (just like the pineapple center)
      How to roast Cashews – Traditional Goan roasting of raw Cashews – The Caju Fruit
    • Keep aside the raw green seed/nut nut for the roasting process and cut your edible part of the fruit into bite size pieces.
      How to roast Cashews – Traditional Goan roasting of raw Cashews – The Caju Fruit
    • You can indulge it already at this point. Sprinkle some salt on top and keep the fruit in the sun for a short time to take out some of the fruit liquids. It gives a bit of a flavor but it's not required, in fact I just prefer to eat the fruit raw. Of course it can be processed further into other delicacies such as Chutneys and Pickles.

    The Cashew fruit can be turned into condiments and other delicacies. It has high acidic amounts and therefore cashew fruits are used to prepare vinegar.

    In Goa, there is popular traditional alcohol made of the Cashew fruit called Caju Fenni.

    The fruit is mashed, fermented and double distilled before the fruity alcohol is sold in the local markets. You can see what the traditional distillation looks like here. It's basically a Schnapps variation.

     More exotic fruits:

    • Tropical Fruit List
    • Breadfruit
    • Chunna Berry (Ziziphus Rugosa)
    • Kantam Berry (Karonda)

    Dear reader, have you ever eaten a cashew fruit?

    📖 Recipe

    How to roast Cashews - Traditional Goan roasting of raw Cashews - The Caju Fruit #stepbystep #recipe masalaherb.com

    How to roast Cashews

    A short guide on how to roast raw Cashews in the shell outdoors.
    4.50 from 2 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Recipe by: Helene Dsouza

    Ingredients

    • Raw in the shell Cashews Green raw but sun dried
    • Log of Wood
    • Sand

    Instructions

    • Don't roast cashews on your own if you have never worked with fire outdoors!
    • To roast the cashews you need to do that outside in a garden area. Keep some sand on the floor and spread it and place the wooden log on top of it and put fire . Please be careful when you do this. Keep a fire extinguisher around just in case for the worst situation!
    • The log should just catch a bit fire so that it turns into embers without a flame. Spread the embers a bit on the sand area and place the dried raw nuts in-between. For the first time just throw a few into the embers so that you get a feel for it because the nuts can completely burn from inside very quickly.
      How to roast Cashews – Traditional Goan roasting of raw Cashews – The Caju Fruit
    • Keep on mixing the nuts with the surrounding embers and sand. Smoke will appear which is normal and keep on mixing. The nuts are ready when you can hear them sizzle. All that will take about a minute so as I mentioned above be careful because they can really burn fast!
      How to roast Cashews – Traditional Goan roasting of raw Cashews – The Caju Fruit
    • Once you think they are ready, take them out to cool. Then open them, discard the shell and store the seeds in a airtight container.
      How to roast Cashews – Traditional Goan roasting of raw Cashews – The Caju Fruit
    • You can add salt or spices to them for flavor and enjoy them as snack or use them in baked good or curries.
      How to roast Cashews - Traditional Goan roasting of raw Cashews - The Caju Fruit #stepbystep #recipe masalaherb.com
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    I am Helene, and I created Masala Herb in 2011. Here you will learn to cook with spices and herbs. I share from scratch, international food recipes and my mission is to teach you to cook flavorful food at home. Read More…

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    1. Shelley Trazkovich says

      July 31, 2021 at 1:39 am

      I used to get cashew fruit around 30 years ago from a nonprofit organization called Pueblo to People. They seemed to disappear with the Internet age; both the cashew fruit and the nonprofit. I seem to remember the fruit came dried. I would love information on where one can buy cashew fruit and have it shipped to the United States.

      Reply
      • Helene Dsouza says

        August 03, 2021 at 7:21 pm

        I hope somebody else might be able to help you out with some info. For now, I found these dried cashew fruits over at etsy.

        Reply
      • Abraham says

        August 05, 2021 at 5:26 am

        HIi Shelley

        I follow the cashew conversation and found your request very interesting/
        I will be pleased to check how feasible to export cashew fruits/drinks and nuts to you
        I am currently cultivating cashew

        Reply
        • Helene Dsouza says

          August 06, 2021 at 1:55 pm

          Where are you located Abraham? Do you grow them without using pesticides?

          Reply
          • Abraham says

            August 07, 2021 at 9:25 am

            Hi Helene, good to hear from you
            Once again I appreciate your good works for this platform to tell more about cashew
            I have known cashew in Ghana for very long. during my secondary school days in the boarding house we take it more like pee nuts.
            In recent times however, farmers are producing it more for the export market.
            That is exactly my target.
            Please Helene the answer to your question: I am located in Ghana, and the cashew crops we grow, we do not use insecticides.
            Many thanks

            Reply
            • Helene Dsouza says

              August 07, 2021 at 1:25 pm

              Hi Abraham, well that's good to know that cashews and fruits are helping the economy in the region. It is a precious ingredient. It must be difficult to grow without using pesticides. I can imagine the tropical climate attracts a lot of bugs and worms. Do you make a distilled liquor with the fruits in Ghana? They do that in India and it's called feni. It can be great if distilled the right way.

              Reply
              • Abraham says

                August 12, 2021 at 6:24 am

                Hi Helene

                It is pleasant to speak to you once again

                Generally there is a kind of growing advocacy for the cashew market in Ghana. So you are right the economy gets the benefit

                Concerning the pest control, I would rather place emphasis on the practice. A good hygienic and environmental practice on the farms makes the difference

                I have personally observed some farms where the cashew fruits that fall the ground are not picked frequently tend to attract all kinds of insects

                Some insects such as bees are attracted by the nectar and the pleasant aroma of the fruit, but that in itself is useful for mostly for pollination etc and do not necessarily affect the health and quality of the fruit

                So we organise hands to clear the farms frequently. We sometimes have to shake trees to and gather fresh cashew fruits frequently

                In preparing the drink we use very simple methods: we simply separate the seed for the fruit itself and then wash it with clean water and sometimes washed with salt. Place it in a refrigerator overnight or few more days. Now we allow it derefrigerate any ice, we squeeze it gently through a sieve. Then the juicy cashew drink is ready. You will love it.

                If you have other methods of preparing the drink you may share with me

                Many thanks
                Abraham

                Reply
      • Noel Chinaza says

        August 09, 2021 at 3:49 pm

        I'm replying from Nigeria. I have a cashew farm that produces more than 500kg bags of cashew annually. The season is gone for this year because cashew is a seasonal fruit that bears fruit between March and May. I can supply any quantity of the NUTS that you may need.
        The fruits are highly perishable as they can't last beyond 12hours after being plucked. There's no scientific results so far on how to preserve the sweet juicy cashew fruit. You can get in touch with me via my email.

        Reply
    2. Rhoda says

      July 11, 2021 at 9:37 am

      Thank you Helene for the post, the cashew is very delicious both fruits and nuts. Nigeria is a major exporter of cashew to India, US, Canada, Vietnam, Germany and many other countries. So to the cashew lovers out there enjoy a taste of Africa with love from us💞💞. The Portuguese took the fruit from Africa.

      Reply
      • Helene Dsouza says

        July 11, 2021 at 11:51 am

        I didn't know Nigeria was growing Cashews. Learned something here. Cashews originated in South America and the Portugues spread it from there.

        Reply
    3. A,t,Holt says

      May 31, 2021 at 11:37 pm

      5 stars
      Great thanks. We have bunch of these fruits in Curacao but never roast the nuts.(Imported nuts) Now I will try and roast them.. All best. Asyla

      Reply
      • Helene Dsouza says

        June 02, 2021 at 4:15 pm

        Have fun making them! 🙂

        Reply
    4. Mary says

      February 01, 2021 at 3:03 am

      Thank you for this useful piece, Helene. I'll try it again.

      Reply
      • Helene Dsouza says

        February 02, 2021 at 8:22 am

        Glad that you found the info useful Mary. 🙂

        Reply
    5. Jo says

      February 06, 2020 at 10:39 am

      We've got lots of cashew trees in my compound and i've tried so hard to roast the nut and it usually end up in a disaster (It's either it gets burnt or I get burnt). I'm so happy it's cashew season and I'll roast it your way

      Reply
      • Helene Dsouza says

        February 12, 2020 at 12:15 pm

        Hi Jo,
        well, roasting cashews isn't easy, to be honest. You need to keep an eye on them. I wish you all the best!

        Reply
    6. Ida says

      May 22, 2019 at 1:45 pm

      Very interesting I enjoyed reading this article you put together thank you lots of information.

      Reply
      • Helene Dsouza says

        May 23, 2019 at 6:16 am

        You are welcome Ida. I'm glad that you found the information useful. 🙂

        Reply
      • Ruth Haddad RN BSN says

        December 26, 2019 at 2:11 pm

        Thank u , I've cashew trees in my yard that are now being harvested n would like to make use of d seeds.

        Reply
        • Helene Dsouza says

          December 27, 2019 at 12:05 pm

          You are welcome

          Reply
    7. surinder says

      July 05, 2015 at 3:31 pm

      Hi
      It's worth reading all about roasting cashew. In fact we were in goa last week and bought some raw cashew but don't know how to roast it. Now our work has become easy. Thanks

      Reply
    8. Ron says

      August 11, 2013 at 9:49 pm

      4 stars
      Thank you for sharing! We have been in Grenada West Indies for several months and have enjoyed the fruit. Oddly enough I have enjoyed the nut nearly my whole life. It was the fruit I had not heard of, but with most street vendors offering them for sale we figure we should try them. They are delicious after the third or fourth one you get addicted( figuratively ) . We had wanted to know how to roast the raw nut and now we do, so thank you and to any readers don't be afraid both the fruit and nut are delicious ! To everyone enjoy your travels and Experiance it all, we only live once (during this life)

      Reply
      • Helene Dsouza says

        August 13, 2013 at 6:16 pm

        Yes the fruit is rather unknown. I had the same experience, my taste buds took some time to get addicted to the flavors of the fruit. Your mind tells you that it's weird looking but the smell is tempting and at the end you enjoy every single bite. =) Glad I was able to help you. Roasting it on a open fire gives the nuts so much more taste too, especially when freshly roasted. Thank you for stopping by and sharing your experience Ron. See you around!

        Reply
        • Amit says

          October 07, 2013 at 8:16 am

          Hi Helena,

          I run a website justnuts, where I actually sell Goa'n cashews online.
          I didnt know that even in Portugese they pronounce it as Caju, because in India we pronounce it too in similar way.
          And by going through the replies and comments I got to know about the largest cashew tree in Natal, Thanks to you and Your blog, I always keep posting health factors, benefits on Facebook, but due to your blog I came across many new things.

          Reply
          • Helene Dsouza says

            October 07, 2013 at 5:57 pm

            Hi Amit!
            You know, the Portuguese are to blame that cashew fruits ended up in Goa and the rest of India. =)
            Glad to help!

            Reply
    9. ASmita says

      April 25, 2013 at 8:49 pm

      Yummy!

      Reply
    10. Denise Browning@From Brazil To You says

      April 21, 2013 at 9:42 am

      Hi, Helene! How nice your article about how to roast cashew nuts...You are right! Cashew or Caju (as we say in Portuguese) comes from South America -- precisely from my home country Brazil. It's native from Northeastern Brazil, my region, where the fruit is used to make compotes, juice, ice cream, sauces, etc while its nut is roasted and widely commercialized. Did you know that in a city called Natal, in Brazil there is the largest cajueiro (cashew tree) in the world? It covers an area of about 8,400 square meters. It's as large as 70 standard-size cashew trees together. 🙂

      Reply
      • Helene Dsouza says

        April 21, 2013 at 8:08 pm

        Hi Denis. Oh you make compote of he fruit? I never thought of doing that since I am a bit wary with the tropical fruits and cooking. I certainly didn't know the biggest caju tree was in Natal. Wow that's so massive, I just saw the picture! It grows so differently to what I have seen here. I wonder too how old it must be for having grown so huge.

        Reply
      • Nilantha says

        April 17, 2019 at 6:57 am

        Wow its a new news to me. I wonder whether we, to Sri Lanka received cashew from Portuguese. because we call it in our language also Caju. Nice. Thank you Denise.

        Reply
    11. lizzie @ strayedtable says

      April 18, 2013 at 4:31 am

      I didn't know you could eat the fruit as well. That is awesome. I like the traditional roasting way over coals, the flavour would be just exquisite.

      Reply
    12. wok with ray says

      April 16, 2013 at 6:03 am

      We have a lot of cashew fruits and nuts growing up. The fruit is really good by itself. Thank you for sharing this, Helene! Have a nice week. 🙂

      Reply
    13. kitchenriffs says

      April 14, 2013 at 10:11 pm

      Fascinating post! I knew knew about cashews and their fruit. I doubt if I'll ever have a chance to get raw cashews, but if I do I'm ready! Really fun post - thanks.

      Reply
    14. Maureen | Orgasmic Chef says

      April 13, 2013 at 6:40 pm

      I've certainly never seen a cashew hanging on a tree before. What a great post, Helene!

      Reply
    15. Charles says

      April 13, 2013 at 3:48 am

      Wow, you know I had absolutely no idea they grew like this... nor had a fruit attached. I don't think I've ever seen one for sale before... nor probably will I. I'd love to see how it tastes. I love your posts Helene, I always learn such interesting things (and feel a little jealous of you too for doing such cool stuff!). 😀

      Reply
      • Hazil says

        June 27, 2015 at 7:05 pm

        They sell them in St. Lucia if you ever visit there!

        Reply
    16. Shannon | JustAsDelish says

      April 12, 2013 at 10:13 pm

      Thanks for sharing this unique story about Cashew, I never knew they were grown inside a fruit.

      Reply
      • gerda kopinsky says

        March 13, 2017 at 10:05 pm

        It grows not inside the fruit but outside at the end of the fruit as you can notice at the pictures. I have jellow and red cashews trees on my land. I am from Suriname South America

        Reply
        • Helene Dsouza says

          March 14, 2017 at 10:53 am

          Oh there are different types of cashew tress? i wonder what's the difference between yellow and red cashews. What do you do with your cashews Gerda?

          Reply

    Welcome

    Hi there! I'm Helene and here you will learn how to cook with spices and herbs. Discover global food and learn to season your food like a pro. Read more about my work and mission or head over to my food ingredient space, Unknownbite.com, and our travel space, Paulmarina.com!

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