If any of you has ever wondered what cashew look like on the plant, here you go.
Its kind of a weird structure - the nut is in the bit at the bottom but I don't really know what the upper section does. Very cool looking en masse on a big tree though.
The upper section is called the cashew apple, and can be a bit astringent but red and juicy when ripe.I happen to like eating them better than the nut you have to extract and roast first.I think in some south american countries the cahew juice is available in the market but I don't recall the name.
The upper section is the juicy stalk, which is a pseudofruit popularly known as the 'cashew apple'
The cashew apple shown in your pic unripe. When ripe it turns yellowish red. a large pulpy and juicy part. It has a fine sweet flavor and I loved it as a kid to eat it with salt and pepper... mmmm.....yummy.
It helps its propagation of the plant by offering an easy to access 'fruit' for the birds, bats and fruit-eating mammals who eat this juicy pseudofruit to enable the release of the real fruit cashew nut to the ground.
wow - thanks all for the informative comments. The double section structure is not something I've seen before but its very curious. perhaps next time I see one the apple will be ripe!
4 comments:
Hello. I came to your blog via IATB, and you have a great blog about nature here!
What a lovely picture of cashew - my first time of seeing it as a plant. Interesting!
I will visit often from now on. Cheers.
The upper section is called the cashew apple, and can be a bit astringent but red and juicy when ripe.I happen to like eating them better than the nut you have to extract and roast first.I think in some south american countries the cahew juice is available in the market but I don't recall the name.
The upper section is the juicy stalk, which is a pseudofruit popularly known as the 'cashew apple'
The cashew apple shown in your pic unripe. When ripe it turns yellowish red. a large pulpy and juicy part. It has a fine sweet flavor and I loved it as a kid to eat it with salt and pepper... mmmm.....yummy.
It helps its propagation of the plant by offering an easy to access 'fruit' for the birds, bats and fruit-eating mammals who eat this juicy pseudofruit to enable the release of the real fruit cashew nut to the ground.
wow - thanks all for the informative comments. The double section structure is not something I've seen before but its very curious. perhaps next time I see one the apple will be ripe!
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