Cashew apple

Get to know it

The cashew apple is the yellow or red, juice-filled part that grows above a cashew nut. Bite into its soft, fibrous flesh and the juice comes with a tart, mouth-drying edge. In Piauí, Brazil, it becomes cajuína; in Goa, its juice is fermented and distilled into feni.

What it is

A cashew apple is about 5–11 cm (2–4½ in) long, with waxy skin that can be yellow, red or a mixture of both. The flesh is spongy, fibrous and very juicy, and tart. Tannins give it the drying sensation called astringency.

The apple is actually a swollen stalk. The true fruit hangs below it and holds the cashew kernel. That nut needs separate processing: its double-walled shell contains a caustic resin.

Where it comes from

Cashew comes from Brazil. Portuguese traders carried it to Goa, India, around 1560–1565, where it was prized for its fruit and for holding soil against erosion, and to eastern Africa, first to Mozambique. The same tree gives both the fleshy apple and the nut.

In Brazil, Ceará, Piauí, Rio Grande do Norte and Bahia are the main growing states.

How it's eaten where it grows

In Piauí, Brazil, cajuína starts as pressed cashew juice. Clarifying removes the tannins that make it astringent; the clear juice goes into glass bottles and heats in a water bath. In Goa, cashew feni takes another route: juice from freshly stomped apples ferments slowly with wild yeasts, then is distilled, sometimes twice.

In the Dominican Republic, dulce de cajuil turns the apple into a spoon dessert. Peeled fruit is boiled through several changes of water, then cooked with sugar, cinnamon and cloves until the liquid becomes a light syrup. It is chilled before serving.

How it's grown

Cashew grows on an evergreen tree with a broad, dome-shaped crown. It does well in warm coastal parts of India, in deep, well-drained sandy loam. Growers join a shoot from a chosen variety onto a seedling root system: this is grafting.

The fruit takes about two months to develop and is ready when it turns strongly red or yellow. In Brazil it is picked up from the ground or caught in nets hung under the trees, rather than pulled from the branches.

When and where you'll find it

In Goa, cashew harvest usually runs from February through May. In Brazil, it usually runs from late September to early January. Fresh apples are highly perishable, but trays wrapped in plastic and kept cool last up to 21 days instead of four, long enough to reach São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, more than 3,000 km (1,900 mi) from the harvest.

Brazilian processors also deep-freeze apples for use through the year, so juice and pulp have a longer season than the fresh fruit. Brazilian food sellers abroad offer frozen caju pulp.

Sources · 10

Get it near Detroit

What it tastes like

Crisper than a blueberry, no sweeter than a grapefruit≈

Not sweetlemonapplebananaSweet

MildbananalemonSour

SoftbananaappleCrisp

More about the taste

Cashew apple can have a drying, astringent edge from tannins. Juice, clarified cajuína and cooked sweets are different preparations of the fleshy fruit, so the food form matters as much as the fruit itself. This is the cashew apple, not the attached cashew nut.

The mouth-drying sensation comes from tannins. Processing into juice, nectar, frozen pulp or cajuína can reduce astringency and change the eating experience.

Choose, ripen, store, eat

1ChooseIntact, firm, clean fruit
Look for
Intact, firm, clean fruit
No damage or decay
Ignore
Red or orange-yellow color
Choose intact, firm, clean fruit without damage or decay. Both red and orange-yellow forms occur; neither color is riper.
2RipenDoesn’t ripen after picking
Doesn’t ripen after picking
Cashew apples are picked at proper maturity and handled gently; careful harvest preserves quality rather than improving it. Immature or fallen fruit won't ripen well afterward.
3StoreCashew apples are highly perishable
Cashew apples are highly perishable. Use them promptly, or choose a processed product like juice or pulp.
4EatFleshy apple
Eat
Fleshy apple
The fleshy apple is eaten fresh, dried, or made into juice and pulp. The attached nut is processed separately and isn't covered here.

Detroit, Michigan

When it’s good here

Grown here

Ships from other states

3 growing areas, 2 countries

Espírito Santo
Greater Accra
Pernambuco
You

Grows hereIn season nowOther monthsYou

2 of 2 areas · October

11

Growing areas by country

Brazil2
Ghana1

In Piauí, Brazil, cajuína-making was registered as cultural heritage in 2014. The clarified cashew drink is traditionally offered to visitors, with preparation knowledge passed down through families.
Piauí, Brazil

10 varieties

See all 10 varieties

102 names in 24 languages

Cook it

Recipes 2

1 Cashew apple festival

Festival do Caju BonfimNovBonfim, Roraima, BrazilNov

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Strange but true

If you like Cashew apple

Tastes alike

Same plant family

Sources

Cashew apple · Fruitopia · checked Sep 22, 2026