| Is there any way that a person could grow cashews indoors? How do I go about finding information? |
| Here is a little bit about cashews to get you started and a careful internet search using the Latin name might yield additional cultural information geared to commercial growers. Cashew (Anacardium occidentale) is a native of Brazil and it is a small to medium size evergreen tree (35 feet). The fruit, or cashew apple, that surrounds the nut is sweet and can be eaten fresh but it is extremely difficult to harvest the nut because a toxic, oily fluid lies between the inner and outer shell. To be honest I really think it is too large to grow indoors unless you have a conservatory, and I'm not really sure you would want to give it a try after reading that according to the California Rare Fruit Growers Association cashew is : An easily grown evergreen relative of the mango, poison sumac and poison ivy. Very sensitive to cold, especially in warm winters followed by a freeze. Leaves are simple, leathery, light-green with a copper-red blush when young. The nut is not edible or safe when raw. Touching an uncooked nut can cause skin eruptions and the smoke given off by roasting is itself an irritant and poisonous. The cashew apple grows above the nut; it is edible and safe without treatment and makes good jelly or fermented liquor. |
