Cashew

:This article is about the tree; it can also be used as a slang term to describe someone who has both Catholic and Jewish parentage.

Related Topics:
Catholic - Jewish

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The Cashew Anacardium occidentale is a tree in the flowering plant family, Anacardiaceae. The plant is native to northeastern Brazil, where it is called by its Portuguese name Caju (the fruit) or Cajueiro (the tree). It is now widely grown in tropical climates for its cashew "nuts" and cashew apples. Originally spread from Brazil by the Portuguese, the cashew tree today can be found in all regions with a sufficiently warm and humid climate.

Related Topics:
Tree - Flowering plant - Anacardiaceae - Brazil - Portuguese - Tropical - Climate - Humid

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What appears on the tree to be the "fruit" of the cashew tree is an oval to pear-shaped pseudofruit or false fruit that develops from the receptacle of the cashew flower. Called the cashew apple, it ripens into a yellow and/or red structure about the size of a plum or pear (5-11 cm).

Related Topics:
Fruit - Flower - Plum - Pear

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The true fruit of the cashew tree is a roughly kidney-shaped or boxing-glove shaped drupe that grows at the end of the pseudofruit. Actually, the drupe develops first on the tree, then the peduncle expands into the pseudofruit. Within the true fruit is a single seed, the cashew nut (technically a seed, not a nut, although the true fruit is classified as a nut by some botanists). The seed is surrounded by a double shell containing a caustic phenolic resin. Some people are allergic to cashews but cashews are a less frequent allergen than some other nuts.

Related Topics:
Drupe - Seed - Nut - Allergen

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