1. Cashews: The Nut Hangs Beneath a Fruit
If you had never seen a cashew tree, you might assume the nuts grow inside a large fruit, waiting to spill out when it opens. The real arrangement looks almost backward. A single kidney-shaped shell hangs from the bottom of a swollen red or yellow structure called a cashew apple.
The edible cashew is the kernel inside that hanging shell. The colorful apple above it develops from the fleshy stalk and supporting tissue, rather than being an ordinary apple. It is edible too, and in places where cashews grow, people enjoy it fresh or use its juice in drinks.
That tiny attachment is the part most shoppers recognize, but it still needs careful processing. Cashew shells contain a caustic oil, so cracking freshly picked nuts at home is not a safe shortcut to a snack. Once you have seen the whole arrangement, a bowl of cashews starts to look like the end of a much more elaborate story.
