Are " raw cashews " i buy actually raw? Havent they been steamed

any info would be great.

Can raw foodists eat raw cashews you buy in health stores.

I am told my cashews are raw, but then I was always taught that raw cashews are toxic unless "sundried," whatever that means, and also very difficult to peel without steaming or blanching the pods. In India and Brazil(where they originate)the nuts are always dried[because of toxicity?] and then processed otherwise. I'd ask wherever you shop for them if they can tell you where the nuts are from and whether they were sundried. Hope this helps:

[www.sunfood.com]

Test your product. If they will sprout into a small plant, then your source is vital. Don't you think?

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

I really think that if you saw cashews growing in Nature, and tried to get at one, you would see that they are toxic and almost impossible to open (encased in a very hard shell and surrounded by gooey black icky stuff.)

You could google it so you could see some pictures to understand what I mean.

: )

Love,
Julie

I don't eat cashews for this reason.

When I was in northern Australia a few years ago, I went to a market where one vendor was selling whole cashew "apples" (the whole cashew fruit that contains the cashew "nut". They warned me very clearly to eat ONLY the fruit and not to try to eat the cashew "nut" within or it would burn my fingers.

The standard commercial "raw cashews" sold in stores are not truly raw -- the "raw" just means they're not roasted.

There are sources for truly raw cashews in the raw community. Cathy Silvers (of "Happy Days" fame) just started selling them, in addition to other raw sources.

Cathy Silvers' truly raw cashews:

[thehealthylivingstore.net]

Some info on cashew nut processing:

[practicalaction.org]

"If the nuts are being manually shelled, gloves need to be used or alternatively, the nuts should be tumbled in sawdust or ashes to absorb the liquid coating which has a harmful affect on the skin."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/2009 08:18PM by Omega.

I've never seen a cashew nut in the shell but if its anything like a Brazil nut in the shell it must be really hard to get the nut out of the shell. I'm always amazed at how perfect the nuts look after their de-shelling process. When I try to get a nut out of the shell they look terrible. How do they get the shells off leaving such perfect looking nuts ?

Omega Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> When I was in northern Australia a few years ago,
> I went to a market where one vendor was selling
> whole cashew "apples" (the whole cashew fruit that
> contains the cashew "nut". They warned me very
> clearly to eat ONLY the fruit and not to try to
> eat the cashew "nut" within or it would burn my
> fingers.

I just looked at a picture of a whole cashew fruit, and I need to modify the above as I forgot what the thing looks like. The cashew "nut" is not within but actually on the outside of the fruit, attached at the bottom. That's the part that they told me not to try to eat.

here are some links to pictures of women handshelling cashew nuts...I think it's in Indonesia.

So maybe small retailers have truly raw nuts, cause they still sheel them by hand?

[images.google.ca]

[images.google.ca]

Like almonds, to remove the skin of cashew, they steam them. And like that they look perfect. But there are some hand shelled cashews. They don't look as nice, more like pieces with knife cuts. But they are much tastier. Look at the montecristo cashews from equalexchange.co.uk

Raw Fruit Festival
[www.raw-fruit-festival.net]
Health, Fitness and Fasting Retreats in Spain
[www.fit-in-nature.net]