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History of Cashews: How They Spread Across the World
Introduction
Cashews are loved all over the world for their great taste and smooth, creamy texture. Along with being a healthy snack, cashews have an intriguing history that crosses continents. Cashews have come a long way since they were first grown in Brazil’s lush forests. A lot of people in Asia and Africa grow them now because of trade, society, and their natural interest in growing new things. We can see how a seed that no one knew about at first became a valuable farming tool all over the world by learning about its journey and past. Join us as we dive into the History of Cashews and their Journey across the World in this PrimeNuts blog.
The Origin of Cashews in Brazil
People in the northeastern part of Brazil can naturally find the cashew tree (Anacardium occidentale). This is the place where the history of nuts begins. Native groups used the nut for important things before Europeans came. They ate both the cashew nut and the pear-shaped, juicy cashew apple. The fruit was eaten, and the bark and leaves were used as medicine.
The cashew nut is not a real nut; it’s a seed that grows on the outside of the fruit. Inside the nut’s shell is an oil called anacardic acid, which is very dangerous. Before the nut can be eaten properly, this oil needs to be carefully taken off. Cashews used to only be grown in one place because the process was too dangerous for anyone who didn’t know how to harvest the tree safely.
Portuguese Exploration and Global Spread
Since the 1600s, when Portuguese sailors came to Brazil, cashews have been travelling around the world. To their colonies in India and Africa, they brought cashew seeds because they were impressed by how hardy the tree was and how useful the fruit was. Two things were important to them: stopping soil loss along the coast and bringing a new food crop to their lands.
Tropical places, like the western coast of India, were good places for cashew trees to grow. It was easy to grow in Goa, Kerala, and along the coast of Karnataka because the land was sandy and the weather was warm. Cashews were grown all over South and Southeast Asia after that, and they became an important export item.
The cashew had become strongly established on three continents in just a few decades, from the coasts of Mozambique and Tanzania in Africa to Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and the Philippines in Asia. Because of this worldwide movement, cashews were one of the first crops to be exported all the way around the tropical world.
Cashews in India: A Growing Industry
It was India that grew cashews for the longest time and in the most important ways. The Portuguese brought the tree to the area mostly to plant shrubs but soon found that it was useful for food and money. India was one of the biggest providers and exporters of cashew nuts by the early 1900s.
Many more cashews were processed and traded in the seaside areas of Goa, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. Small industrial companies shelled, roasted, and sent the nuts to European markets. In the 1920s, the organisation of cashew processing became a major source of income for people in rural areas, particularly women.
India, along with Vietnam and Tanzania, is still one of the biggest producers of cashews in the world.
The African Connection
The Portuguese brought cashews to Africa, where they were quickly grown because they do well in tropical areas. A lot of people in Mozambique, Tanzania, Nigeria, and Ghana started growing cashews.
Africa mostly contributes to the global cashew business by growing raw nuts. Many of the raw cashew nuts that are grown here are sent to Asia to be processed, mostly in India and Vietnam. But in the past few years, many African countries have started to put money into local processing plants to make more money and create more jobs.
Cashews in Modern Times
Nowadays, people grow cashews in several countries and enjoy them in almost every part of the world. That’s not all; people also like them because they’re good for you. Cashews are beneficial for your heart, brain, and energy balance because they are full of healthy fats, protein, magnesium, and vitamins.
In addition to being tasty, cashews are critical in the food and beauty businesses. Cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL), which is made from cashew shells, is an important industrial material used in drugs, paints, and lubricants. The cashew apple goes stale rapidly, but it’s becoming more famous in juices, jams, and fermented drinks.
Cultural and Culinary Significance
Many different kinds of food around the world use cashews. They make curries, sweets, and holiday meals in India taste better. The cashew apple is a tropical treat in Brazil and Thailand. In Thailand, it is used to add crunch to stir-fries. Roasted cashews are often used in sweets and as a fancy snack in Europe and the Middle East.
Cashews have gone from being a beloved local treat to a food that people all over the world love for its taste and health benefits.
Sustainability and the Future of Cashew Farming
- Growing demand for cashews encourages farmers to adopt eco-friendly cultivation, fair wages, and responsible sourcing practices.
- Improved processing methods in producing countries help reduce waste and support safer, better-paid work for shelling and packaging workers.
- Farmer groups promote traceable supply chains so consumers know how and where cashews are grown, balancing growth with environmental care.
Conclusion
Cashews came from the forests of Brazil and are now used in kitchens all over the world. Their amazing journey was full of trade, travel, and adaptability. What started out as a way for native people to get food has grown into a global good that connects people from different countries and cultures.
Although cashews taste great, they also represent power, creativity, and cultural exchange. Today, we eat them in salads, desserts, and snacks, and we think of all the people who worked hard and came up with new ways to use them to get them from the tropics to tables all over the world.
