Boy that really CRACKS me up! Ok I’ll stop; I was just coming out of my SHELL!!!! Hahahahahahaha.
So, I thought I would give you Cashew 101. Maybe even 102, there will be a test later so no sleeping. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like cashews. And, we all know how expensive they are, compared to peanuts. Why, you ask? What is the difference?
When I came to Ghana, I was clueless on how the tasty kernels got in those cans. I really didn’t care, I was just happy to munch them while sipping a cold beer.
Once in Ghana, I found out that I will be working with a farmer’s association that grows cashews. So I started thinking; where do cashews come from? Did they grow like peanuts under ground? In a bush or tree? Do they simply get delivered like babies, except by a nut stork? I once heard that part of the cashew is poisonous. So many questions.... Brace yourself, you are about to take a trip to the wonderful world of cashews.
There are 6 or 7 West African countries that produce the world’s largest supply of cashews. Ghana is one of those countries. Unfortunately, they do not process the cashews here. In fact, 95% of all cashews grown in Ghana are exported to places like India and Vietnam to be processed. This is very unfortunate because if they did process the nuts here, there would be more jobs created, more of the value of the product would stay here in Ghana. Hence one of the reasons I am here. One of my goals is to help educate people on the advantages of processing in country. We have a long way to go on that, but luckily I have some partners that also have an interest in the project. Good partners... ever hear of the Bill and Linda Gates foundation, or Kraft foods, or Cosco? Well, they have just given $50 million dollars to help me! WHAHOOOOO!!!!! Ok, ok, well, maybe not to help me, but to help the cashew industry. More on that later.
Ghana is a very fertile country. Yes, there are tons of babies here, but I was talking about the land. Although they are a very poor country monetarily, they are rich in resources. It’s frustrating because they could be doing so much better if it where not for poor management and corruption. I don’t know how they will break this horrible cycle- and until they do, Ghana will continue to be a 3rd world country. Cocoa, maize, mango, yams and cashews are just a few to the crops they harvest here. Cashews grow on trees, and after two years, you can expect a harvest, and with not a whole lot of time invested, they can produce a harvest for 2 decades.
The nut is not in the fruit like most fruit trees. The nut grows outside the cashew apple, and the farmers wait until both the nut and fruit fall from the tree before they harvest them. They pick them off the ground, separate the apple from the nut, then let them dry for three days. There is more detail than this, but, this is cashew 101 and I don’t want you to fall asleep. Then they sell it to a middle man, which could be Indians, local buyers, or associations ( like the one I work with). It is then shipped to places like India, where they process it then ship it back to Europe or the US. 20% of the price of cashews is shipping because it is shipped around the world before it lands in your hands. Up until recently, you couldn’t buy cashews to eat here in Ghana. You could show most farmers a cashew, and they would not have any idea that it is the same thing that came from there farm. Luckily, that is starting to change, and we now have a couple of processors here. And, thanks to my buddy Bill (Gates), we are planning to have several more in the next few years. The association I work with have about 1.5 million pounds of cashews that we sell to a local processor, who, sells to Cosco. The company is called Mim, and I met with the owner, Lars, who is from Denmark, and he was nice enough to give me a tour of his facility. It was there that I decided I will never complain about how expensive cashews are. So, here is the process;
They have a large machine that sorts the nuts by size. From there they are cleaned. Then the real fun starts. Most of the rest is done by hand. First, there is a large work bench. There is a vice looking tool that is worked by using your hands and feet. The goal is to crack the nut without damaging the kernel ( the part we eat). So one by one, someone cracks the nut open and pushes it to the other side of the bench, where another person takes a small knife and tries to pick out the kernel from the shell. The other day, I attempted to do this, and when I got through with a pile of nuts, you could make cashew butter with it, but there where hardly any whole kernels. Needless to say it is not easy. From there the kernel is steamed. It still has the husk on it. The steaming helps to loosen the husk, but, one by one, kernel by kernel, someone picks them up and with a small blade, removes the husk. Then they are sorted by hand, dried and packaged into large air tight bags. Then they are shipped somewhere else to be roasted and seasoned. WOW! For every kernel that you eat, it has been touched by at least 5 pairs of hands. (Hopefully they washed their hands).
Now, remember that the next time you take a handful of cashews and pop them in your mouth. A lot of work has gone into the tasty crunchy nugget. Enjoy, and thank you for your support!
Cheers~
