For many cashew is a nut and not a fruit says Mr. Fernando – the owner of Roots, the fresh fruit juice chain, but not to anyone who grew up in Sri Lanka with a cashew tree within vicinity. Come April and you’ll find children of all ages carefully eyeing the ripening fruit that’s holding the nut from branches just out of reach. The flesh of this fruit is chewy in texture and a mixture of sweet and tannin in flavor and with a sprinkling of salt, tastes just marvelous describes Mr. Fernando.
The nut may be exotic and is even a considerable revenue earner to Sri Lanka, but for children it is the cashew apple, called the ‘puhulama’ that is the most priced. Indeed, with its intense sweet smell and juicy flesh, this makes a delicious drink.However,its delicate skin doesn’t survive the
tumble of transport and is not used on a commercial level in Sri Lanka, continues Mr. Fernando.
Interestingly, this pear-shaped fruit is really not a fruit, but a pseudo-fruit. The true fruit is a kidney shaped drupe that grows at the end of the cashew apple. The cashew nut that’s found within the drupe is actually a seed. The drupe, though like a toughened leather casing, is a protective double shell containing a skin irritant toxin similar to poison ivy. Even a drop of milk is enough to irritate and peel the skin away.
Perhaps it is for this reason why children carefully collect the drupes after eating the cashew apple and takes it to their mothers, who in turn use an areca nut cutter to cut open the drupe to get the seed out. The raw cashew nut (seed) is a common ingredient in Asian cooking and in Sri Lanka is often used to make a creamy cashew curry or oven-roasted and stored in air-tight jars to be used as a snack and to make a myriad number of sweets, cakes and desserts. In Sri Lanka, oven-roasted cashews are often mixed with salt and chili powder or fried with curry leaves, salt and chili flakes and served as a ‘bite’, especially when enjoying an alcohol.
Though cashew nuts have a high oil content with 6 calories per gram, it is relatively low when comparing with other nuts. Approximately 75% of the fats found in cashews are unsaturated fatty acids and contains oleic acid – the same monounsaturated fat found in olive oil, which is considered good for your heart and for those suffering from diabetes, explains Mr. Fernando.
Fruits to Seek in March & April
