Cashews | Healthiest Foods

Share Top Five January 11, 2019

The cashew tree (Anacardium occidentale) is a tropical evergreen tree that produces the cashew seed (nut) and the cashew apple. It can grow as high as 14 m (46 ft), but the dwarf cashew, growing up to 6 m (20 ft), has proved more profitable, with earlier maturity and higher yields,More info:wiki

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#10 Cashews, The Other Dairy Product,More info:farmersalmanac

A handful of cashews may be a nutrition-packed snack food, but did you know the popular kidney-shaped nut doubles as a dairy substitute in a variety of scrumptious recipes? They also grow in the most unusual way!

Cashews are derived from a tropical evergreen tree originally native to Brazil. The top cashew producing countries today include Vietnam, Peru, India, Nigeria, and Côte d’Ivoire. What is strange about the cashew is how it grows. Although the cashew is considered a culinary nut, botanically it is actually a seed. The cashew (seed) comes from the cashew apple. The apple is yellow and bell-shaped and slightly resembles a bell pepper.

The cashew is encased in a crescent-shaped shell which grows from the bottom of the cashew apple on the tropical cashew tree. Wonder why you haven’t heard of the cashew apple before? The juice within the cashew apple is used locally when harvested, as a fruit drink. The exterior of the fruit, however, is very fragile and not able to withstand shipping. So, until you travel to a cashew orchard, there is the tasty cashew nut to enjoy. This delicious nut is rich in vitamins and minerals: potassium, manganese, phosphorus, magnesium, protein, iron, copper, vitamins K, and B-6, dietary fiber and healthy fats. Cashews contain no cholesterol.

#9 Where the Heck Do Cashews Come From? ,More info:parade

Ever wonder where cashews come from? You might think they grow inside a shell like any other nut, but their true origins are far more bizarre.

First of all, cashews are not actually nuts, but rather fruits from the cashew tree, a large evergreen tree that thrives in tropical climates. The tree produces red flowers, which in turn produce yellow and red oval structures resembling apples. These so-called cashew apples are very juicy and pulpy, and their juice is often added to tropical fruit drinks.

#8 Curried Cashews,More info:eatingwell

#7 Maple Tamari Roasted Almonds and Cashews,More info:fountainavenuekitchen

These tasty little bites are a sweet-and-savory spin on my classic recipe for Tamari Almonds. People often use tamari as a gluten-free option to soy sauce, but after reading the label of the bottle of tamari I had in my cupboard–and seeing wheat as an ingredient–I did a little more investigating.

By way of The Kitchn, I found an informative write-up on everything you ever wanted to know about soy sauce, tamari, and even an Indonesian cousin of this popular condiment called Kecap Manis. To paraphrase the bottom line on tamari: It is specifically a Japanese form of soy sauce that is traditionally made as a byproduct of miso paste. It is very similar to regular soy sauce but contains little to no wheat. It has a dark color and rich flavor because it contains a lot of soybean amino acids.

Low-sodium tamari options are available–I use one in this recipe–but always check the label if gluten is an issue. Where regular soy sauce is concerned, I have bought La Choy brand soy sauce and it is gluten-free; it is not, however, widely available in low-sodium options. Most Kikkoman varieties contain wheat, although I recently saw a gluten-free bottle at a restaurant.

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