CASHEW IN SEASON

Whenever you find cashew trees you are bound to find cashew fruits strewn all over the ground underneath the tree.

Whenever you find busily fruiting un-owned cashew trees along major roads you will find lorries and cars stopping by to pick up cashew fruits.

The cashew season is in, but cashew trees are not as numerous as they used to be when I was growing up.

Cashew fruits come in two clours - yellow and red. The more common one is the yellow variety. The red type, well I have not seen it in ages.

The fruits are not so nice as their seeds, of course. They are somewhat bitter and rarely sweet. I find out that usually the crinkled smallish ones are sweeter and crunchier.

Be careful of their juice...it can stain your shirt and the stain is not washable.

Cashew fruits are usually julianned (that is after they are squeezed out of the juice) and cooked with coconut milk mixed with squids. They are delicious, according to my wife.

I will go back in the life cycle of cashews. First is the sprouting of cashew shoots. They are favourites among many. They are usually consumed raw dipped in hot sambal or a mixture of fish paste (budu).

Then come the fruits.

When all the fruits are gone, people will go out searching for the seeds. They are dried under the sun for some time just to make sure that they are dried.

After that they are roasted (please see my earlier entry where I narrated the SOP of cashew nut roasting).

Cashew nuts, well everybody loves them. However, there are people who believe that eating cashew nuts is not good for memory!