The internet is full of fabulous facts about everything from current events to the history basket weaving and cashew fun facts. As we research for our daily content on food trucks, food carts and street food, we stumble upon some items of knowledge that we just did not know.

We have decided when these fun facts pop up, that we would share them with our readers in our section titled “Did You Know?”

For today’s Did You Know we will look at Cashew Fun Facts.

Cashew Fun Facts: Indigenous to Brazil, the cashew nut spread to other equatorial regions including Africa and India, and now is the most widely produced nut in the world.

  • Unlike other nuts and seeds the cashew does not grow within the fruit but instead on the outside of it. It hangs from the base of a crab apple, called a “cashew apple.”
  • The United States consumes over 90% of the world’s cashew crop.
  • The colloquial name for the cashew nut comes from the Portuguese name for the nut, caju.
  • Cashews are in the same family as poison ivy and poison sumac. This is why cashews are never sold in their shells.
  • Oil from cashew nut shells is used in insecticides, brake linings, and rubber and plastic manufacture. The milky sap from the tree is used to make a varnish.
  • There are 8 people in the U.S. listed on whitepages.com with the last name ‘Cashew’

Check out this tasty recipe from the Seabird’s Truck which incorporates cashews.

Key Dates

  • April 21st is National Chocolate Covered Cashew Day.
  • November 23rd is National Cashew Day.

Cashew Fun Facts We Missed

Let us know if we may have missed some cashew fun facts in the comment section or our food truck forum. If we can verify the facts we will give the reader credit in the article.

Reference: Wikipedia: Fun Facts about Cashews.

Find all of the National Food Holidays to spice up your food truck menu specials throughout the year.