Preparing cashew nuts from a tree is a multi-step process that involves harvesting, roasting, shelling, and drying. While the provided excerpt only mentions one step (drying), a complete overview is described below.
Here's a breakdown of the steps involved:
- Harvesting: Cashew nuts grow attached to a cashew apple. Wait until the cashew apples and nuts have fully matured and fallen from the tree.
- Separating Nuts from Apples: Detach the cashew nut from the cashew apple. The apple can be consumed fresh or used for juice and jams, but this process focuses on the nut.
- Drying the Nuts: Sun-dry the cashew nuts for a few days. This reduces the moisture content and makes them easier to process and store.
- Roasting the Nuts: Raw cashews contain a caustic oil in their shells called cashew nutshell liquid (CNSL), which is toxic. Therefore roasting is essential. Traditionally, roasting is done in open fires. Industrial methods involve oil-bath roasting. Roasting removes the CNSL.
- Shelling the Nuts: Once roasted, the shells become brittle and easier to crack open. This process can be done manually or mechanically, but care must be taken to avoid contact with CNSL if roasting is incomplete.
- Peeling: After shelling, the nuts have a thin skin (testa) that needs to be removed. This can be done by heating the nuts in a dryer, which makes the skin brittle and easy to peel off. The excerpt refers to using an oven dryer to dry the nuts a little bit to make peeling easier.
- Grading: The kernels are then graded according to their size, shape, and color.
- Drying (Post-Shelling): The kernels are dried to further reduce moisture content and improve shelf life. This step, as mentioned in the provided text, can involve using an oven dryer.
- Packaging: Finally, the cashew nuts are packaged to prevent moisture absorption and maintain freshness.
