For those of you live in the tropical portion of Florida , have you reckon about growing cashews ?
I have … but I ’ve never had quite the bounteous enough glasshouse to pull it off up here , so insteadI planted a cashew tree diagram in The Great South Florida Food Forest Projectback in May .
I demand to get down there to take some travel along - up photos and do an update ; however , I ’m quite enthralled with the melodic theme of grow cashews and I ’m break to make it happen wherever we finish up next .

cashew tree are n’t a real nut , however . They ’re a seed that get at the end of a stem which depend like a fruit . illogical ? Here ’s an illustration :
Growing cashews will make you the invidia of your neighborhood
It ’s really a beautiful Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree .

Growing cashews will make you the envy of your neighborhood
Related to mango , sumac , the much - hated Brazilian pepper and even poison ivy , Anacardium occidentale also have a dark side .
Though the fruit are comestible , the seeded player ( the cashew “ nut ” itself ) is surrounded by a poisonous toxin that will cause blisters and even sightlessness , making process it to get the tasty nuts really a major pain – sometimes literally !
A publicationfrom the South African Department of Agriculture say why :

Growing cashews will make you the envy of your neighborhood
Harvested crank are dry in the sun for a few sidereal day . Properly dried en can be stash away for 2 years before being shelled . Nuts are roasted to discharge the caustic shell oil and acrid fumes . Hand shell is impossible if the shell rock oil has not been off previously . nitty-gritty must be protected from contamination by the shell oil because it would make bleb in the mouth and throat when eat up . Before the nuts are roast they must be soak in body of water — the moisture in the carapace facilitates the rupturing of the cells containing shell crude and retaining it in the shell . wet make the kernel slightly cartilaginous and fix breakage of the kernels . The easy method acting to wet the shells is to stack the testicle into big piles and to use sprinkler intermittently . Steam may also be used .
The simplest roasting method acting is to heat up the nuts for about a hour in an open genus Pan with holes . Acid fumes are released and if the junky should enchant fire the flaming can be doused with piddle . A more effective method acting is to use a slanting perforated piston chamber that is rotated above a attack . The shell rock oil flows through the holes in the cylinder and is collected in a catch through . After the roasting summons the nut are dumped into ash or sawdust to remove the excess casing rock oil still cling to the shells .
Yeah , Cashews are shivery . The University of Florida actuallywarns against attempt to litigate your own egg :

Photo creditJoao Vicente
Homeowners should not attempt beat out and consuming the Anacardium occidentale testis produced by cashew Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree grown in the home landscape painting . The shell contains a reddish - brown , gummy , oily liquid state composed of various phenolic lipids . This oil color is poisonous and acts as a powerful vesicatory , causing extensive blistering of the skin ( dermatitis ) . Removal of the kernel from raw nuts require limited precautions and procedures . The sap from the wood , leave of absence , and peak may also cause dermatitis and the grass from burning any part of the tree is poisonous .
What ’s life story without a bit of sizzle pelt ? Those killjoys .
Growing Cashews
you may grow cashew trees from cum , though you ’re never going to find good seed unless there ’s a Anacardium occidentale grow in your neighborhood . The ace from the store are already quite processed , even the “ new ” I , manifestly , or else there would be a circumstances of blistered faces and litigation .
The tree diagram require a year - round tropical climate and is a smaller size , pasture from 15 – 30′ tall . Perfect for a minor band .
I ’m interested in growing cashews for the cashew orchard apple tree , which is reportedly great for juicing – plus , the tree diagram is just so beautiful and exotic as to make a great summation to a tropical food timberland or backyard . Look at these beautiful things !
Photo creditJoao Vicente
Cashews can be grafted or air - layered to duplicate productive trees , since you do n’t really know what you ’ll get from a come ( though many tree are come out this way and still do great ! ) .
If you ’d like to see how much work goes into the nuts we wantonly bolt down on railway car trip , check this video out :
I include to feeling some shame over my blithe first - populace consumption of cashew nuts … I did n’t recognize how much of this process was done by mitt and how very long it takes to march cashews .
Sometimes you do n’t realize how fertile you are .
Any of you all ever grow cashews or see a cashew Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree in individual ?