My brother-in-law used to work at the national school of ag in El Salvador, and they had some sort of plant trade agreement which allowed the school of ag to obtain some really unique cashew cultivars. I had a good number of them but lost nearly all in the cold we had back in 2010 or thereabouts (dipped into the low 30's plus wind for several nights -- iguana massacre!).
I didn't get to try many, but the few I tried were OK. Cashew is never going to be a fruit sought after for being eaten out of hand, but that was probably as good as it gets. There was one with a gigantic seed and a smallish but non-astringent and semi-sweet (brix of about 12 degrees if I remember correctly -- high for a cashew), yellow fruit.
At one time, I had found a local cashew tree that seemed to be cold tolerant, but the owner has since yanked the tree. I was told that many of the unique Brazilian cashew cultivars introduced into El Salvador were destroyed (for development if memory serves).
Since we haven't seen temps into the 30's here for close to a decade, I'd assume it's safe to plant cashew trees here...
Sort of on this topic.
I heard in Brazil they have developed varieties that are consumed for their fruit.
I assume the bred out the tannins.
I would love to plant one as I find the smell of the fruit appealing.
Anyone know if these are obtainable in SoFlo.
