Cashew and Wax Apples + Off to the Belmopan Agriculture Trade Show I Go

'Tis the season for fruit in Belize and two new ones arrived at my local fruit stand yesterday morning. One tasty and one downright horrible.

Let's start on a positive note: the wax apple or the rose apple or the water apple. Aptly named since it has a waxy skin and tastes like a juicy, crisp, watery apple.

they are almost hollow. Eat the skin and the crisp crisp flesh leaving just the bottom core. I think you might like them.

The cashew fruit, on the other hand is a far more interesting for a number of reasons. One reason is the sickly sweet, rotten taste and smell.

Another is their beauty. That cannot be denied.

The true fruit of the plant is the greenish/gray kidney bean at the end. That contains one cashew nut. Botanically speaking (as I often am), it isn't even a nut. It's a seed. The husk contains irritants and toxins similar to poison ivy. Only by proper roasting in an open area are those poisons cooked out and the nut can be extracted.

The yellow, orange, red "false fruit" is also eaten. The cashew apple has a very thin, rubbery skin, is super juicy and well...SWEET. Rotten sweet. The smell of the fruit is very distinct. It says it all.

In Belize, the juice can be made into Cashew Wine. To me, the "wine" tastes like super sweet teriyaki sauce.

The actual tree is crooked and relatively squat (usually but can grow up to 25 feet high) but quite broad across the top.

Here's a cool bit of trivia. The largest cashew tree in the world is in Brazil and covers 7,500 square meters (81,000 square feet!!!). Yankee Stadium's field in New York is 11,500 square feet. (Fan capacity 52,535.)

This tree is a MONSTER. And produces 60,000 fruit a year.

The nut? Delicious. One of the best on earth. Sometimes called a "magic nut", it is filled with vitamins, minerals and proteins. Vegans love them. The smooth fatty cashew butter is a good substitute for dairy butter in lots of recipes.

Click here to read the rest of the article and see more photos on San Pedro Scoop

No accounting for tastes, I guess. I think the cashew fruit smells wonderful, sort of grapelike. And doesn't taste bad, either. Love to visit Crooked Tree when the crooked trees are in fruit.

I have to agree, Lan! We just got back from a short visit to Crooked Tree, and I loved the smell of the cashew fruits. They smelled, well, fruity. Perhaps when too far gone/overripe, they might not be pleasant, but I loved it. Did not taste any, though.

Emily

Ha. Yes. Just my opinion. But a strong one. ICK! I shared with some Belizeans and they said they taste great but agreed the smell was not good.

I love the cashew fruit but try craboo fruit some time!!! Those little yellow balls of fruit, we had friends visit and after trying them named them c rap fruit!!! But the belizean kids love them!!!

Ugh...I can't stand craboo "fresh" or in a jar. Rotten.

Yeah, I'm not really ready to try them myself...