You can eat cashew apple fresh, cook it, or process it into various products like beverages, preserves, and condiments.
Here's a breakdown of the possibilities:
Culinary Uses
- Eat it fresh: The cashew apple can be eaten raw, offering a sweet and slightly astringent flavor. Choose ripe, undamaged fruits for the best experience.
- Cook it in curries: In some cuisines, particularly in India, cashew apples are used as a vegetable in curries. The fruit adds a unique sweet and tangy flavor to savory dishes.
- Make preserves, chutneys, and jams: Due to its high pectin content, the cashew apple is well-suited for making preserves, chutneys, and jams. These are particularly popular in India and Brazil.
- Juice Production: Cashew apple can be processed into juice, either consumed fresh or further processed.
Fermented and Alcoholic Beverages
- Vinegar: Cashew apple juice can be fermented into vinegar.
- Citric Acid: Fermentation processes can also yield citric acid.
- Alcoholic Drinks: Fermented cashew apple juice can be used to produce alcoholic beverages like fenny (a traditional Goan liquor) and other types of cashew wine.
Other Applications
- Animal Feed: Cashew apple pulp, a byproduct of processing, can be used as animal feed.
- Industrial Uses: Research is ongoing into potential industrial applications of cashew apple extracts.
It's important to note that cashew apples are highly perishable and should be used or processed quickly after harvesting.
