What to know about the Marañon?
This article is about the delicious and nutritional cashew nuts, its properties, medical uses and description of the tree and fruit.
Its English name derives from the Portuguese name for the fruit of the cashew tree 'caju' which in turn derives from the indigenous Tupi name, acaju, but in Spanish receives different names depending on the country:
- anacardo (Spain)
- castaña de cajú (Uruguay, Argentina and Chile)
- cajuil (Dominican Republic)
- marañón (Perú, South-East of Mexico, Colombia, Panama and Central America), Merey (Venezuela)
- nuez de la India (North of Mexico)
- pajuil (Puerto Rico)
The true fruit of the Cashew tree is the cashew nut resembling a miniature boxing-glove; consisting of a double shell containing a caustic phenolic resin in honeycomb-like cells, enclosing the edible kidney-shaped kernel. An interesting feature of the cashew is that the nut develops first and when it is full-grown but not yet ripe, its peduncle or, more technically, receptacle, fills out, becomes plump, fleshy, pear-shaped, with waxy, yellow, red, or red-and-yellow skin and spongy, fibrous, very juicy, astringent, acid to subacid, yellow pulp. Thus is formed the conspicuous, so-called cashew apple.
Some of the properties and benefits of this fruit are:
- The Cashews are packed with soluble dietary fiber, vitamins, and minerals and packed with numerous health promoting phyto-chemicals; that help to protect against diseases and cancers.
- Cashews are rich in “heart friendly” monounsaturated fatty acids like oleic and palmitoleic acids that help to lower LDL or bad cholesterol and increase HDL or good cholesterol. Research studies suggest that Mediterranean diet that is rich in monounsaturated fatty acids helps to prevent coronary artery disease and strokes by favoring healthy blood lipid profile.
- Cashew nuts are very rich source of minerals like manganese, potassium, copper, iron, magnesium, zinc and selenium. Eat just a handful of cashew nuts every day to avoid minerals deficiencies. Selenium is an important micro-nutrient which functions as co-factor for antioxidant enzymes such as Glutathione peroxidases, one of the most powerful antioxidant in the body. Copper is a cofactor for many vital enzymes, including cytochrome c-oxidase and superoxide dismutase (other minerals function as co-factors for this enzyme are manganese and zinc). Zinc is a co-factor in many enzymes that regulate growth and development, sperm generation, digestion and nucleic acid synthesis.
- Cashews are also rich in many essential vitamins such as pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), pyridoxine (vitamin B-6), riboflavin and thiamin (vitamin B-1). These vitamins are essential in the sense that our body requires them from external sources to replenish and essential for metabolism of protein, fat and carbohydrates in the body.
- The nuts are also containing good amount of Zea-xanthin, an important flavonoid antioxidant, which selectively absorbed into the retinal macula lutea in the eyes. It is thought to provide antioxidant and protective light-filtering functions, help prevent age related macular degeneration.
The tree is native to northeast Brazil and, in the 16th Century, Portuguese traders introduced it to Mozambique and coastal India, but only as a soil retainer to stop erosion on the coasts. It flourished and ran wild and formed extensive forests in these locations and on nearby islands, and eventually it also became dispersed in East Africa and throughout the tropical lowlands of northern South America, Central America and the West Indies. It has been more or less casually planted in all warm regions.
In Costa Rica, the cashew tree is cultivated mostly in Guanacaste and also in Esparza, Puriscal, Orotina and San Mateo. Other producing areas are Cobano and Garabito. The sow has to be done as soon as the rainy season starts and the rainfall has to be regular, otherwise the plantation could get dry and die.
The cashew nuts are available year-round. They are sold "raw" and roasted, salted and unsalted, and in bulk or vacuum-sealed jars or cans.
Important notes and curiousities about cashews:
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The nut is not edible or safe when raw. Touching an uncooked nut can cause skin eruptions and the smoke given off by roasting is itself an irritant and poisonous
- Cashew apple juice, without removal of tannin, is prescribed as a remedy for sore throat and chronic dysentery in Cuba and Brazil. Fresh or distilled, it is a potent diuretic and is said to possess sudorific properties. The brandy is applied as a liniment to relieve the pain of rheumatism and neuralgia.
- In sixteenth century Brazil, cashew apples and their juice were taken by Europeans to treat fever, to sweeten breath, and to "conserve the stomach". The cashew tree and its nuts and cashew apples had been used for centuries by the Indigenous Tribes. Indigeous use is well documented. The Tikuna tribe in northwest Amazonia considers the fruit juice to be medicinal against influenza. The fruit juice is used for warts, the Tikunas tribe use the "apple" juice for flu and that the fruit juice contains three antitumor compounds. Cashew apple contains calcium, phosphorous, iron and vitamin C (ascorbic acid).
Personally, I am a cashew nut lover and I have found some links of recipes using cashews which I would like to share with you, enjoy!
Cashew Cream
Cashew Curry
Other Cashew Recipe
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