Anyone have experience growing cashews ?

[RiversOFT]

Thinking about trying to grow cashews I'm in northeast Florida my main question is does anyone know how much cold they can take when mature ?

[Cookie Monster]

Zero frost. I lost a tree that was about 6 years old when temps hit mid to low 30's. Not worth it.

[tropicbreeze]

I've been growing them for over 20 years and find they're fairly similar to Mangos. They take more continuous inundation during the wet season than Mangos but from what I've heard they're not anywhere as cold tolerant as Mangos. They like distinct dry and wet seasons, and warm all round.

[pineislander]

In full tropics Cashew is very easy to grow and thrives in poor soil conditions where other things won't. Nuts require special processing but bonus fruits are interesting. If they grow well in the area they would already be popular they are so easy. 

[LivingParadise]

I almost ordered one this year, because they should do very well in my location. But reading about the acid inside the shell scared me off. It sounded like too many disasters waiting to happen, even if I concentrate on growing it for the fruit around it. I don't want a neighbor's dog to get ahold of it, and if I have kids someday, that could be really dangerous.

Anybody who's had good experiences with this though, and knows of a safe and simple way to home-process the nuts, certainly feel free to allay my fears.

[demingcr]

i found them extremely easy to grow, even in a pot (15 to 25g) and bore fruit pretty abundantly, for a potted plant. Grown from seed from a tree in DR

However the fruit i found insipid and disgusting (musky) and i never bothered trying to process the nut and used ti in compost. They germinate easily, similarly to how mango germinate very easily in compost.

Not worth growing in my opinion for the fruit, and the nut processing sounds quite involved and potentially dangerous to do by hand.

[Cookie Monster]

There is a dwarf precocious race that will bear within 2 years (or less) from seed. But, yah, the pseudo fruit is nothing more than a curiosity -- astringent and not that tasty. The only good part is the seed, but I would prefer to simply buy those at the super market :-).

[palologrower]

making juice out of the fruit in kauai from the only cashew farm that i know of.  supposedly sells well at the farmers' market.  but i don't know if they mixing anythnig else with it.

[zands]

Consider ackee instead if it will grow in your climate?

[tropicbreeze]

It's the peduncle (stem) of the fruit that some people call the fruit or "Cashew Apple". The taste depends on the variety and the climate they're grown in. Of course if you grow them outside the tropics the taste will be pretty ordinary at best.

Cashew apples are quite astringent but I like them, although there's no way I can eat lemons. But people who don't like any acidity usually don't like Cashew Apples at all. I have both red and yellow varieties, yellow tend to be the more preferred.

The actual fruit is the caustic layer around the nut. They're easily treated on a fire with no issues from residues but it can be a tedious process as you have to handle them singly and it takes quite a while to do significant numbers. Good, though, for a novelty at a BBQ.

[fruitlovers]

making juice out of the fruit in kauai from the only cashew farm that i know of.  supposedly sells well at the farmers' market.  but i don't know if they mixing anythnig else with it.

Cashew juice is wonderful just on its own. What people don't realize is that there are types of cashew cultivars grown for the nuts, and the fruits are terrible. There are types of cashews grown for the fruits and the nuts are inferior. Cashew juice is a big commercial seller in Brazil. The juice tastes very similar to apple juice, with no astringency. So the name for the fruit "Cashew apple" is very fitting.

[bsbullie]

Consider ackee instead if it will grow in your climate?

Agree ackee is a much better fruit in terms of taste.  Easy to remove the poisonous part once you know how.  Delicious raw.  It will not however do to well in NE Florida.

[EvilFruit]

Consider ackee instead if it will grow in your climate?

Agree ackee is a much better fruit in terms of taste.  Easy to remove the poisonous part once you know how.  Delicious raw.  It will not however do to well in NE Florida.

Rob,

How would you describe the flavor of ackee ?.

happy new year

[Finca La Isla]

Akee is like buttery scrambled eggs with cheese.
Peter

[bsbullie]

Akee is like buttery scrambled eggs with cheese.
Peter

Thats how I would deacribe the cooked flavor.

When raw it is more decadent with a flavor really comparable to no other.  Depending on the variety,  it can be creamy to semi creamy with a nuttiness flavor to it but beyond that, hard to describe cause its truly distinctive.