For those of you whom cashewnut is something that you pick up in a tin from the supermarket, this is the raw nut attached to the fruit. The fruit is edible, but kinda sour in taste - I believe its main use is in making Feni - the Goan brew. This fruit-nut combo used to be a common sight in our yard at Kerala some 15 years ago when we had a few cashewnut trees. Strangely I somehow don't seem to remember when these trees were felled, as today there is not even a single tree standing.
The cashew tree (or is it plant) is not very tall and has sturdy branches which make it easy to climb and as kids I remember climbing the tree with my siblings and cousins. The trees used to bear quite some fruit and we used to pluck the nuts and roast it over a fire in the yard, till they turned black. Then the nuts were removed from the fire and broken open to access the sweet tasting kernel inside.
At one of these nut-roasting sessions during the annual school vacations (May-June) that we spent in Kerala every year, I came close to losing eyesight in one eye. When put in the fire, these nuts spray out a kind of secretion. It seems I was not careful enough and leaned too close to the fire, thereby taking a hit in the eye - bang in the pupil itself. If it were not for my Dad who in the evening noticed me continously blinking one eye, I would most probably have ended blind in one eye.
He rushed me immediately to the doctor who did some minor surgery (to basically scrape off the offending secretion from the eye). Post the surgery, we had to go every morning for a month or so to the hospital to have the wound cleaned and medicine applied. This medicine would end up leaving a bad taste in my mouth for which Dad would get me a tall glass of lemonade, which was a big treat in those days. :-)
Anyway, the main purpose of picking up the fruit/nut was to show/educate Aman, but for some strange reason, he was not in the least interested. Infact, he found it strange that I should pick up this from the road and kept insisting that I throw it out.
Cashew Trivia :
Am not sure how much truth is in this rural legend, but it surely is interesting to hear. There is this story about how the nut came to be called cashewnut. It seems, centuries ago, when the British (or was it Portuguese) came to the Kerala coast, they saw these nuts being sold in the marketplace and out of curiousity, ask the seller what these are called. Since the native does not understand English, he assumes that the white man is asking the price of the nuts and replies "Kaashinu ettu", which is Malluspeak for "Eight nuts for a Kaashu". A 'Kaashu' being a small denomination of money in use then. White man assumes that the name is "Kaashinettu", which gets anglicised as Cashewnut.
