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11 Foods That Grow in Totally Unexpected Ways: Cashews, Baby Corn

How often do you pause to consider how the food on your table actually grows from the ground: What kind of plant does it come from, and how is it processed? Some of the most common foods are also some of the most remarkable. Chocolate, cashews, pepper corn, baby corn, cinnamon, wasabi, pineapple, kiwi, sesame seeds, saffron, asparagus. Do you know how they grow?

1. Cashew

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Why are cashews one of the more expensive nuts you can buy? It’s because each cashew is actually the single seed of a mango-sized fruit called the cashew apple. The seed hangs from the bottom of the inverted heart-shaped fruit. Cashews are complicated to process because what we eat as the nut is encased in two layers of shell—which happen to contain a toxic oil similar to the toxin in poison ivy. So to get at the edible part of the nut, the whole thing must first be roasted to destroy the toxin.
The cashew apple meanwhile is delicate and sweet with a tangy aftertaste. It’s also high in tannins, which leaves that dry feeling in your mouth (like eating an underripe banana). In places like Brazil, the fruit is very popular and eaten fresh or used to make juice, syrup, wine, and glazed fruit. In some Latin American countries, the fruit is so prized that the troublesome nuts are thrown away. However, the fruit is also highly perishable so in other countries, like Thailand, cashew nuts are the big export product and the troublesome, odd-tasting fruit is usually discarded.

2. Baby corn

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Baby corn is not a miniature variety of corn as some people think. It’s actually regular corn that is picked before it’s pollinated so it never matures. Any variety of corn can be harvested as baby corn. Sometimes it’s a primary crop, meaning it’s planted to produce baby corn; or it can be a secondary crop grown as regular sweet corn, with some being picked early. In either case, the corn stalk must still grow to about 6 feet before it’s harvested, making it a less than ideal choice for window-box gardening. 

3. Cinnamon

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Cinnamon is the inner bark of the semi-tropical Cinnamomun zeylancium, or Ceylon cinnamon tree, native to Sri Lanka. This is known as “true” cinnamon. It is often confused with cassia, also called Chinese or Vietnamese cinnamon. Interestingly, cassia is actually the dominant type used in commercial production today, so most of the cinnamon we buy isn’t in fact true cinnamon. True cinnamon is more aromatic than cassia and has a less assertive flavor. The leaves of both plants are also fragrant, and are what’s often used to flavor cinnamon tea.

Cinnamon trees can grow to roughly 50 feet, but are usually kept to under 8 feet under cultivation. The tree branches are usually what’s cut for the spice. After the branches are harvested, the farmer will keep them moist for 1-2 days to make the bark easier to separate. Then the leaves and twigs are cut off and the outer bark is scraped off. The precious inner bark is then carefully removed off by slicing underneath it in long parallel cuts. This is what results in the characteristic cinnamon curl. Long curls of bark are layered together in bundles creating the familiar cinnamon stick. After the long sticks are dried, they are cut down into a convenient, commercial length of a few inches.

4. Chocolate (Cocoa Bean)

 

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Chocolate is made from the dried, fermented beans that grow inside the fruit of the cocoa tree. The 7- to 14-inch football-shaped pods grow directly out from the tree’s trunk or on large branches. Inside the pods, the seeds are surrounded by a light-colored, pulp that is tasty and sweet, but tastes nothing like chocolate. There are roughly 30-50 seeds in each pod. The seeds start out white or light lavender then turn darker as they dry and ferment. The beans are further dried in an oven then crushed in a mill to remove the papery skin leaving behind cacao nibs, which is the purest form of cacao. It’s processed from there into the many different forms we buy as chocolate.

5. Wasabi

 
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Wasabi is a root that grows in cool, moist, mountainous areas or under a forest canopy in nature. Under cultivation, it is grown in heavy shade in shallow, cold running water. It can take 3 years for the plant to reach maturity. Because wasabi is rather difficult and expensive to grow, much of the so-called wasabi on the market today is fake—it’s actually a mixture of regular horseradish, mustard, and food coloring. Fresh grated wasabi naturally forms a creamy paste and is an essential ingredient for sushi. It also loses its flavor very quickly after grating if left uncovered. Wasabi leaves can also be eaten and share the same spicy flavor as the root.
In Japan, sawa wasabi is most expensive because it is grown naturally. Wasabi is cultivated in Japan, parts of China, Taiwan, Korea, New Zealand, and some success has been had in the rain forests on the Oregon Coast and parts of the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina and Tennessee.

Photo via Shutterstock

Next page see: Pineapple, Kiwi, Sesame Seed, Saffron, Asparagus, Peppercorn

6. Pineapple

 
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Pineapple is remarkably easy to grow. They don’t have usable seeds, so you can simply cut off the top, or crown, of any pineapple and plant that. You can also plant the slips (baby plants that grow out of a mature plant) or suckers. They don’t need much water and can grow in marginal soil, and even thrive in a pot or tub.
The pineapple plant has a very short, stout stem with a rosette of long waxy needles that look like ground cover. So the fruit, which grows upright, appears to grow right out of the ground and each plant only bears one fruit.
Pineapple takes a long time to flower and fruit, depending on what part of the plant you start with—12 months for slips and up to 24 months or more for crowns. But once you have a few pineapples in the garden, they multiply easily on their own so you’ll have fruit for years to come.
Pineapple are native to Brazil and Paraguay, but were spread throughout South and Central America and the West Indies by native populations. Columbus took the fruit back to Spain and they spread to rest of the world on sailing ships that carried them to counter scurvy. The word “pineapple” comes from Spanish explorers who named it “pina” for pine cone, then the English added “apple” after a juicy fruit they were familiar with.

7. Kiwi

 
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Kiwi, also known as “Chinese gooseberry,” is not native to New Zealand. It originates in China, specifically in the Yangtze River valley in the north, and Zhejiang Province on the eastern coast. It was brought to New Zealand in 1904 as a novelty item by a school headmistress after visiting her missionary sister in China. But by the end of World War II, it was an important export crop for New Zealand.
Kiwis are actually berries that grow on vines and are cultivated on arbors similar to grapes. Male and female plants must be grown close together to bear fruit and the fruit is highly sensitive to weather changes—a warm or cold spell can kill the whole plant or result in it producing few flowers. The kiwifruit is also a challenge to pollinate because bees reportedly don’t find the flowers very attractive.

8. Sesame Seed

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The sesame plant is one of the oldest known crops to be cultivated by humans, going back some 5,000 years. The seeds were popularly eaten by Roman soldiers to help them replenish.
Sesame grows to 5-6 feet in height; it has broad leaves to collect plenty of sunlight. Large bell-shaped flowers grow out from the stem and inside each flower are the seeds. Different colored seeds come from different varieties of the plant. Sesame seed and oil is used in many places in the world, particularly the Middle East and Asia, but eating the sesame leaf is a specialty of Korean cuisine.

Photo via Shutterstock

9. Saffron

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Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world. That’s because it is the dried stigmas of the purple saffron crocus flower. It takes roughly 75,000 flowers to produce 1 pound of the spice, which is almost entirely harvested by hand. Fortunately, only a tiny amount is needed in cooking since adding too much can make the food bitter. Ancient Egyptians also used this plant to dye clothes.

10. Asparagus

 
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Cultivating asparagus is a long-term proposition. Grown from seed, asparagus starts out as fern-like plant and takes about 2 years to reach maturity. You could plant a 1-year-old crown to get a year jumpstart, but mature plants don’t transplant well. However, once mature, asparagus is perennial and will grow back each season for 20 years or more. The mature asparagus shoot can be harvested by cutting it down to about the diameter of a pencil. It then rests over winter and will grow again in the spring.

 Photos via Shutterstock: (l) Young asparagus fern; (r) Mature asparagus. 

11. Peppercorn

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Pepper is the most widely used spice in the world, but have you ever wondered about the difference between black, white, green, and pink pepper?
The peppercorn plant, or piper nigrum, is an evergreen vine with dark green, oval leaves. It grows on trees or trellises under cultivation. All along the vine hang spikes with clusters of 150 or more berries, or drupes. The berries start out green and become darker, and spicier, as they ripen. If they’re picked when green, the flavor is relatively mild—it’s often cooked in clusters in green curry in Thailand. Most commonly the berries are picked black and are the peppercorns we’re most familiar with. White pepper is actually black pepper that’s left to overripen. When the black shell is removed the inside is white and the berry is at its spiciest.
Pink peppercorns are from a different plant entirely. They are the berries of the baies rose plant, also known as the Brazilian pepper tree. It’s a tall tree with droopy branches from which clusters of bright pink berries grow. They have lighter peppery taste with a mild citrus flavor. Being the same size as true peppercorn, they’re often mixed with the others to make a colorful spice blend.


Source: http://agriculture.einnews.com

Indian cashew exports to touch new high this fiscal

KOCHI: Indian cashew exports have reached a new high of Rs4,624 crore, surpassing last year's figure, with one more month to go in the fiscal 2014.

The possibility of exports touching Rs5,000 crore is not ruled out as the exporters could send more shipments in the last month. In 2012-13, cashew exports stood at Rs4,420 crore, which was the highest till now. The fall in rupee value during the year has helped in raising the total value of cashew exports.

Though the volumes have been down in certain months, the value has remained high. For instance in February 2014, the quantity of cashew export is lower by 12per cent at 7,009 tonne. However, the value is up by 6 per cent at Rs315 crore.

The total quantity, too, has almost reached the level in 2012-13 at 1,09,958 tonne at the end of February 2014. In the previous year the total quantity exported touched 1,10,306 tonne.

Higher exports have been achieved despite a 14per cent drop in raw cashew imports at 7,32,478 tonne till the end of February 2014. "Rising prices of raw cashew imported from Tanzania in the last few months have led to slowdown in processing, squeezing the export volumes. As a result many processing factories in Kerala have stopped working,'' said P Somarajan, proprietor of Kailas Cashew Exports. The raw cashew price has eased after touching a high of over $1,400 per tonne.

The raw cashew from east African countries has been traditionally dearer than those from the west African regions, where the harvest has begun. "But this time the prices have been high at the start of the season at $1,150 per tonne. It has declined by $100 now, but is still high,'' he added. India imports 8 to 9 lakh tonne of raw cashew every year.

While the raw nut price remains high, the cashew kernel price has been hovering in the range of $3.15 to 3.20 per pound, a factor which has been worrying the exporters.

"At the price we have been buying raw cashew, we should be getting a minimum of $3.40 per pound. But Indian exporters have been compelled to export at the above price, the rate at which Vietnam, the major supplier in the global market now, sells,'' said Babu Oommen, proprietor of Alphonsa Cashew Industries. Some processors, who had stock of raw cashew nuts from the previous year with them made a killing by selling to other processors. Better domestic production at over 7 lakh tonne helped the exporters to tide over the lower imports to a certain extent.

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com

Cashew Nuts Seasonality

Cashew season extends from March to June in India and Viet Nam. In Brazil, the crop is harvested during November - February. The following calendar shows the cashew seasonality in different origins. 

 

(Source: cashewinfo.com)

Vietnam's cashew nut exports down 20 percent

Vietnam's cashew trading in the first two months of this year declined as increased prices of raw material for cashew nut caused difficulties for companies in production and exports, Xinhua reported. A report by Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shows that the country imported 28,000 tons of raw cashews at USD36 million in the first two months.

The figure represents a 36.4 percent decreased in volume and a 20 percent decreased in value when compared to the corresponding period a year before. The US was the largest importer of Vietnamese cashew nuts accounting for 20 percent of the total. China came next at 20 percent of total cashew nut exports.

Source: http://cashewnews.blogspot.in/

Vietnam's cashew nut trade down on raw material price hike in first two months

HANOI, March 5 (Xinhua) -- High import prices of raw material for cashew nut has brought difficulties for Vietnam's companies in production and exports, causing declines in the commodity's trading in the first two months of 2014.According to a report by Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam imported some 28,000 tons of raw cashews worth 36 million U.S. dollars in the first two months, down 36.4 percent in volume and 20 percent in value year-on-year.Meanwhile, Vietnam earned 169 million U.S. dollars from exporting 28,000 cashew nuts in the first two months, down 0.1 percent in volume year-on-year.

The United States, China and the Netherlands remained Vietnam's large cashew nuts importers during the period, accounting for 26, 20 and 9.8 percent of Vietnam's total export revenue of the commodity, said the ministry.Nguyen Duc Thanh, chairman of Vietnam Cashew Association ( Vinacas), said on Vietnam Industry and Trade Information Center's website on Wednesday that import price for raw cashew stays at over 1,000 U.S. dollars per ton, 150 to 200 U.S. dollars higher than that of 2013.

If Vietnamese companies imported raw materials at that price for export processing, they will suffer from loss, said Thanh, adding that these companies should prioritize on buying domestic raw materials for production demand.According to Vinacas, in 2014, Vietnam's export revenue of cashew nuts, shell oil and processed cashew nut products is forecast to hit 2.2 billion U.S. dollars.In order to realize the target, Vietnam must import some 650, 000 tons of raw cashews from West Africa, East Africa and Southeast Asia as domestic cashews output is estimated to be 350, 000 tons.

In 2013, Vietnam imported some 651,000 tons of raw cashews worth 621 million U.S. dollars, up 96 percent in volume and 83 percent in value year-on-year, Vinacas statistics showed.Vietnam pocketed 1.66 billion U.S. dollars from selling 264,000 tons of cashew nuts to world market, up 13 percent in volume and 19 percent in value year-on-year. If included shell oil, and processed cashew nut products, the total export revenue of Vietnam 's cashew sector hit 1.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2013, said Vinacas.

Source: http://www.shanghaidaily.com/

SALTED & ROASTED UNPEELED (UNBLANCHED) CASHEW KERNELS

SALTED & ROASTED UNPEELED (UNBLANCHED) CASHEW KERNELS  

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