🥃 Cashew apple

The cashew apple is the false fruit of the cashew tree (Anacardium occidentale): a fleshy, juicy stalk 5–11 cm long, with the true fruit, the cashew nut, growing at its tip. The skin is yellow, red or red-and-yellow, and the flesh is fibrous and astringent. In Goa its fermented juice is distilled into feni, a strong spirit with an Indian geographical indication.

Origin. The cashew is native to north-eastern Brazil. According to a Purdue University reference, in the 16th century the Portuguese took the tree to Mozambique and the coast of India, at first to protect soil from erosion. From there it spread through East Africa, Central America and the Caribbean.

Composition and storage. The fresh cashew apple is very rich in vitamin C, from 146.6 to 372 mg per 100 g, and high in tannins, so the juice is mouth-puckering; the fruit is sometimes steamed before processing. It spoils quickly: at room temperature yeasts and moulds take hold within a day. It is made into juice, wine, jams and syrups.

Feni. In Goa the fruit is crushed to extract the juice. Under the specification of the Indian geographical indication "Feni" (certificate No 105, 2009), only ripe fruit that has fallen naturally between March and May is used; the juice ferments with wild yeasts and is distilled twice. Goa's 2021 policy sets feni at 40–45.5% vol. and urrak, the product of the first distillation, at 23–30% vol.

Why it matters to you. The vitamin C of the fresh fruit does not carry over into the distillate: feni and urrak are strong spirits, not fruit products. Fresh cashew apples are rarely found outside the tropics because they spoil so fast, so juice and drinks made from them are more common in shops. The WHO reminds us that there is no safe dose of alcohol.