People shocked to discover how cashews are actually grown

With most of us shopping for food from the supermarket, there aren't a lot of fruits and veggies we get to pick from their natural habitat. Even then most of us would consider ourselves well-versed about how basic food items are sourced, but turns out, that's not always true.

People on the internet are shook after finding out where cashew nuts are actually grown, and it looks nothing like one might have imagined for a 'nut.'

Earlier, people's worlds were equally rocked on finding out trivias such as what SPAM actually stands for, or that some beers contain fish bladder, with many left horrified and shocked after learning where Parmesan cheese comes from.

Cashews aren't actually nuts

TikToker @thejacksonjansen echoed popular sentiment in one of his TikTok videos where he showed his reaction to finding out where cashews actually comes from. Seeing the images of cashews growing, the video creator gasps, saying,

That's not real!!

The video also shows cashews growing on trees! Yes, as reported by Healthline, cashews are not technically nuts, they are in fact, seeds from the cashew tree.

Jackson's video also includes shots of the cashew tree, and how cashews appear as fruits. The flowers that grown on the cashew tree are red and fleshy, and look very similar to small apples.

These 'cashew apples' bear kidney-shaped growth at their ends, which is the real fruit of the tree. These seeds are then harvested, and turned into what we go on to identify as 'cashew nuts.'

Read more:

⋙ This woman touched a plant and her holiday turned into a nightmare

⋙ People shocked to find out they've been storing potatoes wrong: It actually belongs in the fridge

How cashew nuts are harvested

Cashews trees are tropical, and called Anacardium occidentale. The kidney-shaped seed is in-fact both a nut and fruit.

As per Britannica, cashews are hand-picked. In the process of harvesting them, the kidney-shaped seed is first detached from the cashew apples and then sun-dried. In some cases, it is then roasted to remove the outer shell, which contains toxic caustic resin. The oily resin can blister human skin. It is so poisonous that even the fumes it gives off while roasting can injure eyes and skin.

After the toxic shell burns off, the second inner shell needs to be cracked by hand, to reveal the cashew nuts that we are familiar with. These are then ready to be a nutritious addition to our breakfast cereal, or used in curries or eaten as a healthy snack.

People who saw the TikTok video couldn't believe their eyes. While some people who are in the know might read videos like these as an inditement of the food production system, other people are choosing to see the humour in the situation.

One shocked viewer humorously quipped,

I refuse to believe this. Cashews grow in the supermarket to me

Another commented,

This honestly makes me feel better about how expensive they are

On a serious note, one person alluded to the fact that cashews apples need to be hand-picked, and with the toxic outer shell, people harvesting these nuts could be physically harmed. The comment reads,

Wait till you see what the people’s hands who pick the cashews look like

One viewer from El Salvador informed that they drink the juice of the cashew fruit saying,

In El Salvador we drink the juice of the cashew fruit and we call it marañon and it’s delicious

Read more:

⋙ People horrified to learn what chainsaws were actually invented for: 'I was traumatized'

Sources used:

Healthline: 'Are cashews nuts?

Britannica: 'Cashew'

TikTok: @thatjacksonjensen