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Cashew Nut
(Anacardium occidentale)
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Cashew Nut
Where To Find It: Jamaica, West Indies, and
other parts of tropical America.
A medium-sized tree, beautiful, and not unlike in appearance the
walnut tree, with oval blunt alternate leaves and scented rose-coloured
panicles of bloom - the tree produces a fleshy receptacle, commonly
called an apple, at the end of which the kidney-shaped nut is borne;
the end of it which is attached to the apple, is much bigger than
the other. The outer shell is ashy colour, very smooth, the kernel
is covered with an inner shell, and between the two shells is found
a thick inflammable caustic oil, which will raise blisters on the
skin and be dangerously painful if the nuts are cracked with the
teeth.
Two peculiar principles have been found: Anacardic Acid and a
yellow oleaginous liquid Cardol.
Modern Uses: The oil must be used with
great caution, but has been successfully applied to corns, warts,
ringworms, cancerous ulcers and even elephantiasis, and has been
used in beauty culture to remove the skin of the face in order to
grow a new one. The nuts are eaten either fresh or roasted, and
contain a milky juice which is used in puddings. The older nuts
are roasted and salted and the dried and broken kernels are sometimes
imported to mix with old Madeira as they greatly improve its flavour.
In roasting great care must be taken not to let the fumes cover
the face or hands etc., as they cause acute inflammation an external
poisoning. Ground and mixed with cocoa the nuts make a good chocolate.
The fruit is a reddy yellow and has a pleasant sub-acid stringent
taste, the expressed juice of the fruit makes a good wine, and if
distilled, a spirit much better than arrack or rum. The fruit itself
is edible, and its juice has been found of service in uterine complaints
and dropsy. It is a powerful diuretic. The black juice of the nut
and the milky juice from the tree after incision are made into an
indelible marking-ink- the stems of the flowers also give a milky
juice which when dried is hard and black and is used as a varnish.
A gum is also found in the plant having the same qualities as gumarabic;
it is imported from South America under the name of Cadjii gum,
and used by South American bookbinders, who wash their books with
it to keep away moths and ants. The caustic oil found in the layers
of the fruit is sometimes rubbed into the floors of houses in India
to keep white ants away.
Other Name: Cassavium pomiferum.
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