cashew juice fresh from our garden

March to May is the season for cashew juice or niro as it is called locally. we have left our house and garden in India but i have some photos of fresh squeezed cashew juice that i made there in March.

Cashews are rather unique as there are two different fruits. the true cashew fruit is the gray one shaped like a cashew 'nut'. botanically this fruit is a drupe and the cashew inside is the seed and not a true nut. this hard drupe has no juice.

but when ripe the red accessory fruit, often called a cashew apple is full of juice. it is small and green while the drupe develops then within days swells up and turns red or yellow. if not picked within a day it drops from the tree and quickly deteriorates. the juice is exceptionally astringent and both somewhat sweet and sour, vaguely reminiscent of grapefruit juice but much less sour. it can be very tasty but the fruits should be picked in the morning before the sun is warm because in the heat they develop a toxin that can irritate your throat

for making juice we use only the best fruits picked from the tree, not the ground. they must be fully mature and free of any damage such as signs that the birds have already taken a bite. of course we collect all the fallen fruit for the cashews but all inferior cashew apples get composted after separating the 'nut'. in nearby Goa even inferior apples are highly sought after because the juice is fermented and distilled into their famous feni

to make the juice i simply remove the cashew, slice the apple into quarters, put them in a pot and press them with a potato masher drain the juice and press more until all the juice is released. i pour the juice through a strainer into glasses and it's ready to enjoy.

i must admit that a fair amount of effort goes into making the juice this way. when out picking each morning in season if i find a perfect fruit or two i often just remove the cashew and put that end of the apple in my mouth. holding the other end i bite and suck the juice. it's much easier and instantly satisfying but not something everyone can appreciate