well,

i love the taste of cashews,
just as i love the phistacios(sp?)etc...
but..

i bought the 'raw' cashews,
which cost enough of course,

they r pinkish in color,
& have the skins on..
& lady who sells them
said...oh yes, they're even sprouted...U can see the sprout...
WEEEEEELL..
the sprout we CAN see, after removing the skin,
after presoaking them,
BUUUUUUUT
after presoaking them, & for a short time too
they seem/taste TOOOOTALLY cooked, or something!!!
they become VEEEEERY SOFT, almost mushy(sp?)!!!
& THEEEEEN
in a day or so, IN THE FRIDGE,
they TURN DARK!!
AS IF THEY WERE GOING BAAAADD...

WHAT IS THIS...????
THAT SUPPOSE TO BE RAAAAAAAAW?????
NOOOOO WAY...i don't believe it..
now i have a 1 Quart size jar full of them,
wish i didn't buy them
don't believe they're raw,
my housemate who's not raw
is also not thrilled with them
!!!
what do i do!!!
does anyone of U have any reliable info re the cashews in skins/raw ...the process they go through...for extraction???
i know that the regular cashews, that r not called raw, but r also not roasted,
had to go through a heat involving process, to be extracted...that's why they're not for me...
weeeeeeell
hope someone WILL shed some light on this cashew puzzle..please
LOVE & BLESSINGS, Basia

You might try going to the "articles section" of this website, scroll down the left hand column until you get to the category called "Specific Foods", and under that category you will find an article called, "Raw Cashew Nuts, Are They Really Raw?" It's a good article and answers a lot of your questions about cashew nuts.

Most cashews are not really raw because they need to be heat processed to remove the toxic shell. Unfortunately, a lot of the cashews we buy are labeled raw simply to differentiate them from the roasted cashews.

However, Nature's First Law is now selling cashews they claim are truly raw, and they call them "Truly Raw Cashews". They come from Indonesia, and the supplier claims to be processing them raw. Nature's First Law is also now selling certified organic "Truly Raw" cashews, but the organic ones appear to be currently sold out.

Cashews grow here in Hawaii, but people don't eat the nut because of the poison. They eat the apple attached to it. I've never tried the apple myself, but a friend of mine said it's good.

Best wishes, -Ally



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/01/2006 08:36AM by Ally.

I eat the cashew fruit when they're in season. There are trees down the street from me that I harvested this year. I like the taste of the fruit in my smoothies. They're sweet and have a wonderful unusual flavor that I really don't know how to discribe. I have about 30-40 cashew nuts in shells at my house that I haven't done anything with yet. I'm not sure how to get the nut out of the shell without throwing them in fire. That's what I was told to do. I don't know of any other way to get the nut out of the shell which I understand is poisonous.

Therefore, because I was told it takes heat to get the nut and nutralize the poison, I would conclude that probably there are no truly raw cashews unless there is a process that I haven't been told about in getting the nut out of the shell. I would love to hear what that would be.

Mona

So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains and we never even know we have the key.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/01/2006 12:17PM by Mona.

These cashews are definitely raw because they sprouted when I bought/got them.

[www.rawfood.com]

Rawdev,

Yes, but at what cost? I won't purchase anything from rawfood.com because of their plagiarism, ridiculously high shipping prices, and unethical ways. I also have suspicions of these so-called folks that they claim harvest their cashews. I'll bet if I search for awhile I can find a few websites carrying raw cashews and, sooner or later, one will have raw cashews that don't cost as much and won't burn a hole in my pocket to have them shipped to me.

I think I'll order some from Jaffe Bros. They are very concientious and have never disappointed me.

Peace,

Marcos

Go Vegan for your life, your health, the planet and, most importantly, the animals that we share this wonderful world with!

rawdev- how long did U soak them for, & how long did they take to sprout?...

I usually soak the cashews or any nuts for a 24 hour period and the cashews started sprouting tales (a small curled tale at the end) about 11 hours when I began.

Other places I've bought raw cashews would, after soaking them turn slimy then turn black or a greenish color.

I'm sure there's other places that have truly raw cashews like NFL does but I only have a WebTv (slow, very slow), so I can't search or it would take forever, but if some of you who have high speed connections & the time please post...Other wise I'll just stick to what's working.

Ok I myself love cashews as well (but haven't eaten them since going raw - haven't missed them, either) - but after reading this whole post - I would have to conclude that we humans are prob not meant to be eating them at all, don't you think? I mean, if a nut is ensconced in a shell poisonous to us?

Perhaps instead of all the fuss about trying to make them raw as if that might make it a healthy food, we could just shrug and eat the heat-processed kind as an occasional treat.

That is, assuming they're not good for us at all?

(think about it, if you're running through the forest r u going to select something poisonous to eat? maybe there's a reason the nut is telling us "stay away"

sunshine..i agree!! i dont think cashews are meant for us and i dont think the "cooked" ones are worse off than the raw ones..id save my money to buy juicy mangoes and organic greens