CASHEW NUT, the fruit of the cashew, cadju or acajou tree, Anacardium occidentale (family Anacardiaceae), a native of the West Indian Islands. The fruit is kidney-shaped, about an inch in length, and the kernel is enclosed in two coverings, the outer of which is smooth, grey and leathery. Inside this external rind is a dark-coloured layer, containing an acrid juice. The kernels have a bland, oily, pleasant taste. They are much eaten, both raw and roasted, in the tropical regions in which the tree is cultivated, and yield a light-coloured, sweet-tasted oil, said to be equal to olive oil for culinary purposes. The fruit-stalk, immediately under the fruit, is swollen and fleshy, and assumes a pear-like shape. This swollen portion of the stalk has a pleasant acid taste, and is eaten as cashew apple. By fermentation it yields an alco holic beverage, from which a spirit for drinking is distilled in the West Indies and Brazil. The stem of the tree yields a gum similar to gum arabic.
