23 November: National Cashew Day

Today is National Cashew Day. 10 facts about cashew nuts you might not know:

1. The scientific name for the cashew tree is Anacardium occidentale. It is native to Central and South America and the Caribbean.
2. The cashew tree is an evergreen which can grow up to 46 feet (14m) tall. It belongs to the same family as mangoes and pistachios.
3. The largest cashew tree in the world is in Brazil and covers an area of 81,000 square feet, or 7,500 square metres.
4. The word Cashew comes from the Portuguese name for the tree. The word caju literally means "the nut that produces itself." Anacardium derives from the fact that the fruit of the tree is Heart shaped.
5. Cashew nuts are technically seeds which grow on the bottom of the fruit, which is known as the cashew apple. The cashew apple is edible, too, and can be made into jams, chutneys and alcoholic drinks.
6. The Mayans used the leaves and bark of the tree to make a tea for treating diarrhoea.
7. In 2017, the country that was top of the cashew production table was Vietnam, followed by India, Cote d'Ivoire and the Philippines.
8. Cashew nuts are good sources of Vitamins B6 and K, Copper, manganese, phosphorus, Potassium, Zinc and magnesium.
9. When first harvested, still in their shells, the nuts are surrounded by a toxic resin called anacardic acid, which can irritate or even burn the skin. Hence they are always treated by roasting, boiling or steaming to get rid of it, before they're sold.
10. They can be made into cashew oil, which is dark yellow and can be used for cooking. They can also be made into cashew cheese or cashew butter, which is like Peanut butter, only with cashews. Even the shells come in useful as ingredients for lubricants, paints and waterproofing.

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Terry Kennedy is inexplicably and inexorably drawn to the small town of Fiveswood as a place to live and work after university. He is sure he has never visited the town before, but when he arrives there, it seems oddly familiar.

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