Unfortunately, cashew apples don’t transport very well and perish within a few days of ripening. They can be yellow-red when ripe and have sweet, pulpy flesh. Once mature, cashew fruits look a little like misshapen apples, hence their name. At this stage, the cashew apple begins to grow from the stem of the cashew drupe. Cashew apples are particularly unique because they don’t start to form until after the cashew nut has fully developed. Instead, they form from the floral parts of the plant. Accessory fruits are different from true fruits because they do not form from the ovary. Cashew apples are the fruit of the cashew tree and are a very special type of fruit known as an ‘accessory fruit’. Like many seeds, cashews don’t form alone but grow alongside a fruit. Believe it or not, quite a few of the most common nuts don’t meet the requirements to be a botanical nut, including peanuts which are actually legumes, and both almonds and walnuts, which are drupes. What Are Cashews?Ĭashews are the seed of the cashew tree, a tropical evergreen plant that can grow up to 46 feet tall. When looking at a handful of cashew nuts, it can be hard to imagine them growing on a tree - but they do! To blow your mind even further, they’re not actually a nut! So how do cashews grow, and what are they if they aren’t a nut? Let’s find out.

Cashew tree