The cashew apple is the fleshy portion of the cashew fruit attached to the cashew nut. In botanical terms, the cashew apple is an accessory fruit that grows on the cashew seed (which is the nut).
The cashew apple can be consumed fresh, cooked in curries, or turned into vinegar, as well as an alcoholic drink. It is also used to make preserves, chutneys, and jams in some countries such as India and Brazil. In many countries, especially in South America, the cashew apple is used to flavor drinks, both alcoholic and nonalcoholic.
Cashew nuts are more popularly traded than cashew apples, because the apple, unlike the nut, is simply bruised and has a very limited shelf life. Cashew apple juice, however, may be used for manufacturing blended juices.
Health Benefits Cashew Apple
- Helps treatment of Diabetes
- Enhance Heart Functioning
- Keeps the brain healthy and enhances its functionality
- Prevent Gallstones in the body
- Great for Preventing Cancer
- Helps blood flow
- Helps in Weight Loss (Treats Obesity)
- Enhances Eye Health and Vision Clarity
- Keeps the Blood Healthy
- Keeps the Hair Shiny
- Catalyst for Digestion
- Keeps the skin fresh and healthy
- Strengthen and tones Bones
- Keeps the Teeth and Gums healthy
- Great for Preventing Headaches
Minerals found in Cashew Apple
According to a study carried out by R. Bhakyaraj and K. Singaravadive, The cashew tree (Anacardium occidentale L.) is a tropical tree native of Brazil and is being widely grown in India, East Africa and Vietnam (Muniz et al., 2006). The main product from the cashew tree is cashew nut (true fruit), which is rich in fat and protein. After picking the nut from the peduncle (cashew apple-pseudo fruit) (Garruti et al., 2006) cashew apple becomes biowaste. The cashew apple is used as a treatment for chronic dysentery and for sore throat in Cuba and in Brazil (Morton, 1987). Most of the fruit by-products could be used as functional ingredients when designing healthy foods, especially non-digestible carbohydrates (dietary fiber) and bioactive compounds (ascorbic acid and flavonoids) (Laufenberg et al., 2003). The cashew apple juice was found to contain a total of nine minerals at different levels. Minerals like magnesium, sodium, iron, calcium, copper, sodium, and zinc were also present at a significant level of 279.70, 204, 133.9, 80.42, 1.17, 204.0, and 16.48 ppm, respectively in cashew apple juice (Table 1). Among the various minerals, potassium was observed at a high level (3337 ppm) followed by phosphorous (440.20 ppm). Potassium (K) is a very essential element to prevent bone demineralization which is by controlling calcium loss in the urine (Tucker et al., 1999; He and MacGregor, 2001). Nagaraja (2009) also reported that some varieties of cashew apple are rich in potassium. Copper is an essential and beneficial element in human metabolism and the average daily dietary requirement for copper in the adult human has been estimated as 2 mg and for infants and children at 0.05 mg kg-1 b.wt. (Browning, 1969; WHO, 2004). The NRC (1980) reported that safe and adequate daily dietary intake of copper ranging from 0.5-0.7 mg day-1 for infants of 6 months age or less up to 2-3 mg day-1 for adults. The copper content of 1.07 ppm observed in the cashew apple juice is within the safe prescribed limits of infants. Sodium is the principal extracellular cation and is used for osmoregulation in the intermodular fluid of the human body. The recommended daily allowance of sodium is 115-75000 ppm for infants, 324-975 mg kg-1 for children, and 1100-3300 ppm for adults (Crook, 2006). Enzymes are involved in macronutrient metabolism and cell replications are mainly Zn dependent (Hays and Swenson, 1985; Arinola, 2008). Zinc is widely distributed in plant and animal tissues and present in all living cells. In cashew apple juice 16.48 ppm of Zinc was observed. Magnesium is an active element in several enzyme systems in which thymine pyrophosphate is a cofactor. Oxidative phosphorylation is greatly reduced in the absence of magnesium. It also activates pyruvic acid carboxylase, pyruvic acid oxidase, and the condensing enzyme for the reactions in the citric acid cycle (Murray et al., 2000). Even though the value obtained in the cashew apple juice is low as compared to the standard value, it can be used as natural sources of minerals with other food and beverages to rectify the child malnutrition. The cashew apple color varied from bright red, orange, or yellow with a soft and fibrous fleshy. As variations in minerals and other nutrient content of apples are observed, in the present study, cashew apple available in the southern part of India are analyzed for minerals and bioactive compounds.