Food Assessment: Cashews (MORE) (WAS: raw almonds)

[Guest guest]

Hi Norm,

 

Yes, from another post that probably crossed in the mail with yours, below,

that clear oil is urusiol, familiar to us as the oil found in poison ivy,

poison oak, and poison sumac. And as I wrote, heating and allowing the " nut "

to go rancid are the only ways to " remove " this oil.

 

- Industrially, heat is applied using steam, which does indeed remove the

oil ... and partially cook the cashew.

 

- One could (conceivably) partially compost the whole seed. The heat of

composting would eventually break down the oil ... but the cashew would

hardly be fresh food at that point.

 

- One could just let the whole thing sit until it goes rancid, at which

point most of the oil would be broken down. But again, the cashew would not

be fresh food.

 

Furthermore, cashews are very high in calories and provide about 85% of

those calories from fats. Therefore, they are not well-designed as food for

our species.

 

Best,

Elchanan

 

PS: Cashews are definitely seeds, not nuts. We tend to recognize satiation

when eating true nuts, we tend to overeat cashews like there is no tomorrow.

 

E

 

_____

 

kelpguy [kelpguy2]

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 8:38 AM

 

Re: raw almonds

 

 

cashews nuts are an external seed/nut attached below a very juicy, slightly

stringent pear shaped fruit. the nut we eat is inside a thin shell which is

coated with a sticky substance, call it a clear tar, which is covered by

another outer shell. the locals get the nutmeat out of the shells by

roasting them over a fire in a screen cage so you don't get nailed if the

shell explodes, you still hafta watch out for the tar. i don't know if the

tar is toxic but it's nothing you would want to eat, it's stings the mouth.

i'm curious how the ''raw'' cashews are extracted, i can't imagine water

doing anything to the tar, soap does nothing to it. my 1st year here, i

saved a bag of nuts and dried them only to throw them away latter cuz it's

was just too much trouble to get them out raw. many people with cashew

trees bag the nutmeats and put them on a table alongside the road to sell. i

tried a bag and they can't compare to what you get in the states, they also

have a smoky flavor.

 

the cashew trees are only about 25' max height and like it hot and dry. it's

summer here now and very dry and it's cashew season. i seldom see the

fruits in the mercados, maybe cuz they're so easily smashed. i take a fruit

and crush it between my hands over a bowl, to get the juice. the fruit is a

yellow blush and the pulp is an off white. the nuts on the tree dropped

fruits readily sprout under the trees but i've never thot to try them, maybe

this year.

 

we have another cashew variety that grows where its cooler and it's nut is

inside the fruit and i don't know that the nut is eaten. the fruit is a

little sweeter and the trees get huge. the fruit's flesh is white/white and

the skin is apple read.

 

try searching google images for a foto of the fruit.

norm : )