If you read much about cashews, you’ll find pretty quickly that they have to go through an intensive process before they hit the shelves. This is why they’re so expensive.
But one thing you don’t really hear about often is what kind of process, if any, the cashew fruit has to go through. Even in our research of the topic, we couldn’t find much information.
So if you’re scouring the internet looking for information on cashew fruit processing, you’ve stumbled across the right page. We’ll be talking about how it works, as well as uses for cashew fruit.
Quick Answer: How Does Cashew Fruit Processing Work?
Cashew fruit processing depends entirely on what the cashew fruit is being made into. More often than not, the fruit is simply left to rot once the cashew has been harvested. You can also just eat them raw without any processing.
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However, for products like cashew apple juice or alcohol, there is some processing involved. The fruit must be cleaned, sliced, and pressed into juice. The juice is then clarified prior to bottling.
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Making Cashew Apple Juice
Assuming you want to turn the cashew apple into juice, there’s some work necessary to get from start to finish.
The first step is to gather the necessary amount of fruits for the juice. This fruit is cleaned, and then it’s cut into slices or wedges.
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Once the fruit is sliced, it’s put in a machine that pushes down on the slices. As they’re pressed, the juice comes out of the fruit slices and is gathered in a container beneath the press.
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After pressing, the fruit juice is clarified over heat. Clarification removes any pulp or mass from the juice, so that you can actually drink it rather than eating it.
Finally, the clarified juice is poured into bottles for selling. It’s now ready to drink.
If you’d like to watch the process, click the video below.
What Else Can You use the Apple For?
Although it’s most commonly used for drinks, cashew apple does have many other lesser-known uses. We discuss these uses in greater detail in this post, but we’ll cover some of them here quickly, too.
Cashew apple appears in a range of recipes. But it’s pretty popular in curry, chutney, and jam. We personally think a cashew apple jam sounds like it would be really interesting.
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Wrap Up
Cashew fruit only needs as much processing as you want it to. If you don’t want it to go into a jam, juice, or other beverage, you can literally pick it off the tree and eat it as-is.
The fruit really only undergoes processing when it’s being put into a beverage. In that case, it needs to be sliced, pressed, and clarified.
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Hey, I’m Joey. I’ve been cooking since I was a little kid and love everything about it. You can find my writing about food, kitchen appliances (such as blenders) and much more. Thanks for stopping by!
