| |
 |
Cashew nut
|
CASHEW nut (腰果) is a tropical and subtropical evergreen tree. Where the soil is fertile and the humidity high, the plant may grow to 12 m in height.
The tree is chiefly important for the nuts it produces, but it produces wood used for shipping crates (木版), boats, charcoal, etc. The species is related to the American poison ivy (毒藤) and poison sumac (毒漆树) and must be handled with care by susceptible (易过敏的) individuals.
The nut, shaped like a large, thick bean, is sometimes more than 2.5 cm long and forms in an unusual way. It appears as though one of its ends had been forcibly sunk into the calyx (花萼) end of a pear-shaped, swollen (鼓起的) stem, called the cashew apple, which is about three times as large as the nut and reddish or yellow. The cashew apple is used locally in beverages, jams, and jellies (果冻).
The nut has two walls, or shells. The outer is smooth and glasslike over the surface. The inner shell is harder and must be cracked like the shells of other nuts. A brown oil between the shells is used as a lubricant (润滑剂) and an insecticide (杀虫剂) and in the production of plastics.
The cashew, rich and distinctively flavoured, is a characteristic ingredient of numerous chicken and vegetarian dishes of southern India.
The fruits are picked by hand, and the nuts are first detached (分离), then sun dried.
The cashew is native to tropical Central and South America. Portuguese missionaries took it to East Africa and India during the 15th century, where it became abundant at low altitudes near the seacoast.(SD-Agenices)
|
|
|
|
