Nuts Roasting Machine | Ozstar Nut Roasting Machine-Peanut-Almond-Cashew Roasting Machine

The bark of cashew trees has been traditionally used for its medical properties, which have been extensively reported in the literature. It is astringent and rich in tannins, which makes it widely applicable for healing hypertension, gastric disturbances, and inflammations (Mota et al. 1985). 

It was also proven to have bactericidal properties (Akinpelu 2001) and hypoglycemic activity that gives the possibility of using bark extract to treat diabetes mellitus (Alexander-Lindo et al. 2004). More recently, the cashew stem bark methanolic extract was proven to have anti-mutagenic effects, thus preventing DNA damage against potentially mutagenic compounds. 

However, such findings need to be investigated further to clarify the potential use o of cashew bark extract in medicine (Barcelos et al. 2007). Apart from cashew kernel and the other major products and by-products above-listed, there are some minor products that constitute an added value for cashew production, often obtained from low-grade cashew kernels and fruits: (i) cashew kernel flour that is highly proteinaceous, often used as complement of wheat flour; (ii) cashew kernel oil that is edible and comparable to olive oil in terms of nutritional values; (iii) cashew kernel butter that is derived from the residual of the extraction of oil from the kernel, used as substitute of peanut butter; and (iv) cashew kernel milk, obtained from cashew broken kernels, also known as “baby bits” (Nair 2010). The world market for cashew is relatively new.

Cashew, even though traditionally produced and consumed for centuries, started appearing on global markets toward the middle of the 1920s, with two major actors dominating the trade at that time: India, which was the sole exporter of cashew kernels, and the USA, being the only buyer (Harilal et al. 2006). The market has since considerably changed, including the appearance of other actors that created new poles on the cashew production and trade scenario. In 2011, world production of cashew raw nuts reached 4.27 million tons (Fig. 5a), almost equally distributed between Asia and Africa (Fig. 5b), with Vietnam being the first producer accounting for about 30 % of the total production (Fig. 5a; FAO 2013a). 

The major role played by Asia is also confirmed by the presence of India, ranked third among the top five world producers. Vietnam and India, even though characterized by different trends, with the former experiencing a sharp rise in cashew production in the early 2000s and the second showing a more regular growing pattern, have recently shown similar trends due to their almost steady production volumes over the last 5 years (−1 and 9 %, respectively; FAO 2013a). 

This is different from the case of Brazil that, apart from accounting for the 99 % of cashew production of South America in 2011, has had an irregular trend over recent years due to cashew crop failures caused by periods of drought. The same data also show the importance of West Africa in the global scenario, with Nigeria and Ivory Coast accounting together for the 79 % of the production of this area in 2011, and display high growth rate