Cashew processing involves removing the shell, washing, soaking, and roasting the nut. It can be done manually or mechanically. The nuts are graded and packaged before being vacuum sealed for freshness.
Cashew processing prepares the cashews for consumption. In its most basic form, cashew processing involves removing the cashew shell from the fleshy nut, washing the nut to rid it of any foreign matter, then soaking and roasting it. Once this process is complete, the cashews are ready to eat.
Traditionally, cashew processing was completed manually in small batches. Cashew shells would be carefully smashed with hammers to avoid cracking the nut inside as whole nuts have a higher market value than broken nuts. The nuts would be cleaned with water before being left to soak in the vats. After draining them, the nuts would be left to rest for several hours. To hand roast cashews, vendors place the nuts in large pans and heat the nuts over an open flame while constantly shaking the pan or stirring the nuts to keep them from overcooking.
Cashew processing can also be completed mechanically in a cashew factory. Usually we start with the toasting, which facilitates the extraction; producers can also extract valuable cashew oil in the process. Large-scale operations won’t use an open pan method, but would roast the cashews in a large rotating drum or submerge them in tanks filled with hot oil.
There are at least two different types of mechanical shellers used for processing cashew nuts. One type uses blades to separate the shells from the meat, while another uses rotating paddles to push the nuts against the sides of a barrel. Cashew shells crack with the force of hitting the barrel, but the force isn’t strong enough to crack the nut. In case of nuts cracking during the shelling process, the whole kernels can be mechanically separated from the broken seeds in a pre-grading stage. To help peel the papery skin from cashews, cashew processors can dry cashews in large batches using a commercial dryer. The drying process usually takes about six hours and makes it easier to remove the skin from the nut.
At this point in the process, the cashews are ready for grading and packaging. Perfectly roasted whole nuts are considered Grade 1 while broken cashew pieces that may have imperfections from the roasting process are considered Grade 2 or 3. The cashews are separated according to grade and vacuum sealed in carbon dioxide filled containers to keep them fresh. The cashews are ready for their journey to markets around the world.
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