As someone who lost their mind when they discovered peanuts were grown underground (seriously, look it up), finding out the way cashews were grown has been equally as shocking for me and a whole lot of other Aussies it seems.
Jackson Jansen (@thejacksonjansen) posted a TikTok video expressing utter shock when discovering that cashews were grown on the outside of a type of apple and I’m right there with ya.
“Where the fuck do cashews come from?” Jansen pondered in the now viral video that has been viewed over 800,000 times.
The clip then cuts to him looking horrified over a screenshot of him googling a picture of how cashews are grown.
“That’s not fucking real,” Jackson said in complete disbelief.
“What the fuck is that? You’re telling me this grows in a tree, pushes out this fucking nut and it makes cashews?
“This is not real … I feel like I’ve been lied to my whole life.”
Many TikTok users (including me), were shocked by this revelation.
“I refuse to believe this. Cashews grow in the supermarket to me,” one user wrote — and yes, I agree.
“Saw these IRL and I was equally as shook,” another commented.
“I don’t know where I thought cashews come from but it’s not that,” a third TikTok user confessed.
But some people were amazed that this wasn’t common knowledge and I’m sorry for not being a certified nut expert.
“I think it’s so crazy bizarre that people don’t know all this,” one commenter wrote.
“I’m from Brazil, I’m actually shocked people don’t know this! Lol and it’s my favourite fruit!” Another added.
So you’re telling me that in addition to being a nut, its kind of also a fruit? Or is it a fruit growing a nut? Or a nut growing a fruit? Is this just another chicken and the egg situation?
Turns out a cashew is botanically classed as a seed. And that seed happens to grow on an apple, on a cashew tree.
So I guess it’s none of the above and it’s instead a seed, grown on an apple, grown on a tree??? This revelation has rattled me if you couldn’t half tell.
If you’ve also been wondering why cashews are so exxy, turns out the process of getting them from tree to supermarket shelf is super labour intensive.
As per 7News, the apples (cashew attached) are picked from the trees, and there’s only one cashew per apple. And if that wasn’t enough, cashews have a thick, toxic shell that needs to be treated before it’s safe to consume.
The shells have to be roasted over a fire or boiled to ensure all those toxins and harmful oils are removed. Workers then have to remove the edible cashew from the thick, roasted shell.
The edible cashews sans shell are then thoroughly washed, cleaned and placed into an oven to ensure there are no absolutely traces of those harmful oils.
AND you can eat the apple it grows on! Apparently it is quite bitter though so may not be ideal if you’re looking for a sweet treat.
This really is a ‘the more you know moment’, this information will make me completely insufferable at dinner parties for the foreseeable future. It’s too good not to share.
