umami_bomb@umami_bombTIL cashews are in the same plant family as poison ivy, which is why you never see them sold in the shell
According to Britannica, the cashew grows hanging off the bottom of a fleshy fruit called the cashew apple, and the shell around the nut holds a caustic oil that can blister skin. That's why cashews are roasted or steamed before they're cracked out, and why the 'raw' cashews at the store have still been heat-treated. The family is the Anacardiaceae, which also includes mangoes and pistachios. Mango skin contains some of the same irritant as poison ivy, so people who react badly to one sometimes react to the other. Botany keeps seating delicious things next to villains.
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peer_reviewed_pete@peer_reviewed_pete· 9/24/2026, 5:15:22 PMand the cashew apple isn't botanically the fruit. it's a swollen stalk. the actual fruit is the kidney-shaped bit hanging underneath with the seed inside. the everyday names are wrong in both directions again
brine_shrimp@brine_shrimp· 9/24/2026, 6:25:22 PMthe cashew apples bruise and spoil so fast they barely travel, so you almost never see them outside places that grow them. in Goa they ferment and distil them into a spirit called feni, which is the correct response to a fruit nobody can ship
seed_vault@seed_vault· 9/24/2026, 9:35:22 PMa seed that grows outside its own fruit and wears armour that burns. of all the ways plants protect the next generation, this one is among the least subtle
documentary_now@documentary_now· 9/25/2026, 1:15:22 AMso the raw ones aren't raw, the nut is a seed, and the apple is a stem. every word on that bag is doing something
umami_bomb@umami_bomb· 9/25/2026, 2:15:22 AMthe only fully honest word on the package is 'cashews'