So begins my chronical of cashew roasting. I've decided to make my own cashews from start to finish.
We have two cashew trees in the backyard. I'll be the first of many to come on the subject. The process is actually quite nasty. For those of you interested in doing this, I'll make my sources of information known. So it starts.
Since I was young I always loved cashews. It's a good thing that the pricing is high because I'd eat them until I'd get sick. Now I am on the verge of fulfilling that wish. I've gathered together about 70 pounds of cashews in the shell. I'm not sure what the yeild will be either. I'm assuming that I'll get about 60% of the gross weight right now in finished product so about 40 pounds of nuts.
The cashew season here in Hopkins Village, Stann Creek District, Belize seemed to start around the beginning of April and it's running full steam right now with trees bearing an enormous amount of fruit. Look at the image of the cashew apple above. They come yellow and red varieties with the seeds (cashews are seeds not really nuts) ranging quite a bit in size. The fruit is sweet and favorful by the way. I'll try something with the fruits next year. DON'T bite into the cashew to get the seed now, the shell is POISONOUS. Check out the image gallery below.
WARNING: The shell of the cashew seed contains a large amount of oil related to the same family as in the Poison Ivy plant. The locals will tell you it's acid and that's because it'll strip off layers of skin. Read up before roasting them too. The fumes from the shells cause quite a bit of pain too. Locals will tell you that it'll kill small farm animals like chickens.
In a nutshell (haha), you'll need to harvest the cashew seed after it falls to the ground, that ensures that they've come to full maturity. I've seen the trees in our yard drop up to 100 cashew apples in a single day when it's a bit windy. Our two trees weren't enough to meet our needs so we've been going to the Haney Farm down the Southern Highway.
It's backbreaking work harvesting. You'll pull the seed from the fruit and move on, again and again and again. I figure you can gather about 50-100 lbs on raw cashew seeds in a day. Now that I'm familiar with what I can yeild in a day I'll just pick up some day labor to help out next year. By the way, it's messy, sticky, and the juice of the cashew apples stain so wear crappy clothes. You can handle the fruit and seed without gloves. Bring some water to clean up with and extra clothes. It's hot this time of year too so start early in the morning.
Cashews from the beginning
