Guatemalan Fruit: Jocote de marañon
Even though most people are familiar with cashew nuts (I think), I am almost sure many people do not have the slightest idea about the fruit that produces the cashew nuts.
Well there you have it, the jocote de marañón or cashew mombin or as Javier calls it, cashew apple. Although I think the word apple does not apply for the cashew mombin or for the caimito either, which, I recently learnt, is called in star apple in English; go figures! I think the English language needs more fruity words ;-).
Last year we learnt that jocotes or red mombins are related to cashew mombins and thus both fruits are called jocotes. Can you say hawkÅttes?
Do you want to know which part of the jocote de marañón produces the cashew nut, do you? Well, just ask and we will be happy to give you the glory details of just how the cashew nuts are produced.
The Cashew Nut Origin Aside: As requested by several of the readers of AntiguaDailyPhoto, here is the recipe for turning the seeds of jocote marañón (cashew mombin) into cashew nuts. As Claudia pointed out, the nut comes out of the funny looking stem, which is actually the seed. Well, the seed, but with with a carapace. So you need to burn or toast the protective cover first (see picture 1 below) to get it to crack open and give you the already roasted nut (see picture 2 below). Things to keep in mind before you go burning the cashew armored seed: 1. The shield carapace produces a very strong smell as the oils and fats in it begin to burn. 2. The oils and fats inside the armored shield also produce a lot of smoke as they burn. 3. It’s best to roast the armored seeds in the left overs of slowly burning charcoal or wood logs. Last but not least, make sure you don’t over burn them as it happened to me. 🙁
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