Anakardium western (Latin Anacardium occidentale) or cashew – in the nature the sprawling and quickly growing tree which height reaches 10 meters. It has dense krone, wide leathery leaves and surprising fruits.
Flowers and fruits
Small, pinkish-yellow flowers of an anakardium western have fragrant aroma, are collected in long elegant twenty-centimetric brushes and begin to appear on a tree at the end of spring. At the beginning of summer, fruits which ripen in 3 months after blossoming are tied.
Fruits of cashew are very delicious, useful and widespread in tropics. It not only food product, but also a source of receiving cashew nuts which are appreciated around the world their useful properties and unsurpassed gustatory qualities.
Orekho-yabloko
So call a cashew fruit because of its feature. The fruit of cashew consists of two parts: the big pedicel called apple (though in a form and a look it reminds small pepper more) and nut which is inside. Apple quite large, 10 cm, is covered with a dense yellow-orange or orange-red peel. Fruit pulp juicy, with sweet-sour taste, slightly astringent, but having pleasant aroma. The fruit interior — nut — in length grows about 3 cm. Has the interesting form — in the form of a comma. Nut is covered with a firm green cover which after maturing of nut changes color for olive-brown. Between the top cover and nut there is one more cover which contains the poisonous oil causing burns. Therefore Yabloko of cashew specially trained professionals on cutting of cashew nuts open and get from it nut. But to get poisoned with cashew nuts, even at negligent cutting, it is impossible as before sale nuts are surely fried and residues of poisonous oil completely evaporate.
Advantage of cashew
Cashew nuts are oily, gentle, on taste slightly sweetish also enter ten the most useful. They contain starch, fats, proteins, carbohydrates, natural sugar, food fibers, groups B, PP, E, iron, copper, calcium, sodium, potassium, magnesium, manganese, selenium, zinc are vitamin-rich. The big advantage of cashew nuts is also contents in them nonsaturated Omega-3 fatty acids. The Japanese scientists found substance which fights against harmful bacteria in an oral cavity in cashew nuts recently. Therefore cashew is used for destruction of the bacteria destroying tooth enamel, treatments of inflammation of gums and even removal of a toothache. The cashew nut can be grown up in the apartment from not fried seeds. The plant feels on a windowsill quite comfortably, demands the minimum leaving and begins to fructify for the third year. For formation and delay of growth of krone the room cashew nut needs the forming cutting.