The  Nutty  Season ! 

During one of our drives around the kampong, 

we spotted this fruit that has the "seed" outside the "fruit" ....

we have all eaten it but...how many of us know how it's like on the tree ?? 

 

Cashew tree (Anacardium occidentale).    ------------------ From   http://waynesword.palomar.edu/ecoph1.htm   Left:  A cashew "nut" attached to its swollen stalk (pedicel).  The shell of the "nut" contains the poison oak allergen urushiol, and may cause dermatitis in hypersensitive people.  Right:  The fleshy "apple" is the swollen stalk (pedicel) to which the one-seeded "nut" is attached.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Cashew (Anacardium occidentale; syn. Anacardium curatellifolium A.St.-Hil.) is a tree in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae.  The plant is native to northeastern Brazil, where it is called by its Portuguese name Caju (the fruit) or Cajueiro (the tree).  It is now widely grown in tropical climates for its cashew "nuts" (see below) and cashew apples. It is a small evergreen tree growing to 10-12 m tall, with a short, often irregularly-shaped trunk. The leaves are spirally arranged, leathery textured, elliptic to obovate, 4 to 22 cm long and 2 to 15 cm broad, with a smooth margin. The flowers are produced in a panicle or corymb up to 26 cm long, each flower small, pale green at first then turning reddish, with five slender, acute petals 7 to 15 mm long. What appears to be the fruit of the cashew tree is an oval or pear-shaped accessory fruit or false fruit that develops from the receptacle of the cashew flower. Called the cashew apple, better known in Central America as "marañón", it ripens into a yellow and/or red structure about 5–11 cm long. The true fruit of the cashew tree is a kidney or boxing-glove shaped drupe that grows at the end of the pseudofruit. Actually, the drupe develops first on the tree, and then the peduncle expands into the pseudofruit. Within the true fruit is a single seed, the cashew nut. Although a nut in the culinary sense, in the botanical sense the fruit of the cashew is a seed. However, the true fruit is classified as a nut by some botanists.  The seed is surrounded by a double shell containing a caustic phenolic resin, urushiol, a potent skin irritant toxin (also found in the related poison-ivy). Some people are allergic to cashews, but cashews are a less frequent allergen than some other nuts.

here's some shots of cashew nut trees around our kampong :

the next time you are here, remind us to show you around, but be very careful not to "crack" the 'seed' as the toxin can blind you....

have boat will travel.....deutzia nautical

www.deutzianautical.com

your kinda redang /  fishing holiday