Skip to main content

Cashew (Anacardium occidentale)

Jambu monyet or mete or cashew tree (Anacardium occidentale) is a species of plant in Anacardiaceae where receptaculum balloons and fruit can be eaten. Medium-sized tree, up to 12 m tall, wide canopy, has many branches and always green.

A. occidentale has a high canopy and is narrow or low and widens depending on environmental conditions. The leaves are located at the end of the twigs, stem-stemmed, egg-shaped upside down, most have a tapered base and ends rounded, curved inward, bare and 8-22x5-13 cm.

Dlium Cashew (Anacardium occidentale)

Cashew is a monoesis, androgynous flowers, collected in a smooth panicle with fine hair and 15-25 cm wide. Hairy petals and 4-5 mm. Pointy crown, 1 cm, white to red and hairy. The fruit is dark brown, bent and 3 cm high.

Jambu monyet is mainly cultivated for receptaculum balloons which expand after fertilization which is often referred to as "fruit". This pseudo fruit is a soft part that is swollen and yellow or red.

Receptaculum is sometimes sold on the market as "fresh fruit" for sour taste. Further processing produces a sweet taste as syrup or fermented for alcoholic drinks. The untreated receptaculum is used as animal feed.

The true fruit is actually a hard part, blackish brown and contains seeds that can be processed into delicious snacks that are often referred to as "nuts" (as the kernel) called mete.

Mete is surrounded by a double shell that secretes urushiol sap which can cause irritation to the skin. Some people are allergic, but actually rarely cause allergies in humans when compared with nuts.



Mete is usually fried as a snack when drinking tea or coffee, chocolate fillers and decorations of cakes. Mete husk is used for poultry feed. A type of oil extract is also produced from shells for various industries as cashew nutshell liquid (CNSL) or cashew shell oil (CAS).

Raw nuts are 5% water, 30% carbohydrates, 44% fat, and 18% protein (table). In a 100 gram provide 553 calories, 67% DV total fats, 36% DV of protein, 13% DV dietary fiber and 11% DV carbohydrates. Rich sources including particularly copper, manganese, phosphorus and magnesium (79-110% DV); thiamin, vitamin B6 and vitamin K (32-37% DV); iron, potassium, zinc, and selenium (14-61% DV). In 100 grams raw contain 1.74 gr) of beta-sitosterol.

Young leaves are preferred as raw or cooked vegetables. Old leaves are used to treat skin rashes. All parts of the tree can be used for traditional medicinal herbs, especially for curing skin aches, mouth cleansers and laxatives.

The wood is light brown, of low value and rarely used, generally as firewood and low-quality tooling. The sap from the stems and hardened in the open air is called gum for book adhesive and plywood, also preventing termites.

Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Anacardiaceae
Genus: Anacardium
Species: A. occidentale

Popular Posts

Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) manufacture bubble-nets as tools to increase prey intake

NEWS - Humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) create bubble net tools while foraging, consisting of internal tangential rings, and actively control the number of rings, their size, depth and horizontal spacing between the surrounding bubbles. These structural elements of the net increase prey intake sevenfold. Researchers have known that humpback whales create “bubble nets” for hunting, but the new report shows that the animals also manipulate them in a variety of ways to maximize catches. The behavior places humpbacks among the rare animals that make and use their own tools. “Many animals use tools to help them find food, but very few actually make or modify these tools themselves,” said Lars Bejder, director of the Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP), University of Hawaii at Manoa. “Humpback whales in southeast Alaska create elaborate bubble nets to catch krill. They skillfully blow bubbles in patterns that form a web with internal rings. They actively control details such ...

Broad sword fern (Nephrolepis biserrata)

Broad sword fern ( Nephrolepis biserrata ) is a species of fern in the Nephrolepidaceae, epiphytic and terrestrial, with grayish-brown stems, brown hairs, and 10–130 cm long. The leaf blades are green, 7 cm long, 1.5 cm wide, and hairy brown on the underside. The sori are attached to the underside of the leaf blade, with about 60 sori along the edge and are brown in color. Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Class: Polypodiopsida Subclass: Polypodiidae Order: Polypodiales Suborder: Polypodiineae Family: Nephrolepidaceae Genus: Nephrolepis Schott in Gen. Fil. (Vindob.): t. 3 (1834) Species: Nephrolepis biserrata (Sw.) Schott in Gen. Fil. (Vindob.): t. 3 (1834) Homotypic Synonyms Aspidium biserratum Sw. in J. Bot. (Schrader) 1800(2): 32 (1801) Hypopeltis biserrata (Sw.) Bory in C.P.Bélanger, Voy. Indes Or., Bot. 2(1): 65 (1833) Lepidoneuron biserratum (Sw.) Fée in Mém. Foug., 5. Gen. Filic.: 301 (1852) Nephrodium biserratum (Sw.) C.Presl in Reliq. Haenk. 1: 31 (1825) Nephrolepis bise...

Whipple’s Cryptantha (Cryptantha whippleae), serpentine-adapted species endemic to northern California

NEWS - Whipple’s Cryptantha ( Cryptantha whippleae ) is described as a new species from a meandering barren area in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest in Siskiyou County, California, with one outlier population in a meandering area possibly in Lake County, California. Cryptantha is a genus of perennial herbs in the Boraginaceae (Amsinckiinae) and has been non-monophyletic in several molecular phylogenetic studies. It is currently recognized with 109 species and 124 minimum-ranked taxa, of which 63 are in North America and 47 are in South America, with one taxon found on both continents. Serpentine soils, particularly in northern California, are formed from ultramafic (meta-igneous) rocks that formed millions of years ago on the seafloor. These soils are very high in heavy metals (e.g., nickel, iron, and magnesium) and low in calcium and potassium. Serpentine soils are unsuitable for plants that have not evolved to tolerate the harsh conditions. Species that adapt to serpentines have h...