![]() These wonder chemicals are believed to prevent some cancers and promote eye health as we age. ![]() Carotenoids are a class of organic pigment which give carrots and other orange/yellow vegetables their colour. No outline of cashew nuts nutrition would be complete without noting that cashews have excellent stores of carotenoids like lutein and zeaxanthin. Plant fibre holds everything together in a honeycomb nut structure, which helps with good digestion. Cashews contain vitamins in abundance, especially vitamin E. They are also a good source of plant protein, coming in at 17g per 100g. Magnesium is especially important for body weight control because it is used when the body regulates metabolism and fat deposits. Like many of the popular nuts, cashews are high in minerals like zinc, magnesium, and selenium. This is not surprising because most nuts have a similarly high fat to weight ratio, for example macadamia nuts have 724 calories per 100g and are 75% fat. The reason for the high calorie count is fat (oil): cashews are half fat, half everything else (carbohydrates, protein, fibre, minerals, vitamins, etc.). The popular roasted, salted kind weighs in at an eye-watering 616 calories per 100g! For comparison, something like a bacon burger with cheese has 177 calories per 100g. Cashew Nut Nutrition benefitsĬashews are highly nutritious and packed very densely with calories. The next time you see a recipe calling for “raw cashews”, allow yourself a chuckle. There has been growing activism by consumers and the Fair-Trade movement to protect vulnerable workers from exploitative cashew producers. Even so, acid burns and chronic skin irritations are a common occupational hazard for the workers who process cashews. When the product is boiled or steamed most of the caustic juice runs off. It is possible to buy unskinned and unsalted cashews, but these are much less tasty and therefore unpopular. Thereafter, the nut is usually skinned, roasted, and salted before making its way into a package ready for the supermarket. ![]() Workers use their hands to gently pluck just the kernel of the seed from the meticulously cracked shell to reveal the cashew nut we are familiar with. The processors first boil and dry the seeds before carefully cracking them open with a hand-operated nutcracker. This acidic liquid is the same chemical found in poison ivy, so getting the cashew shell juice on your skin is painful and damaging. A nasty mix of several different plant acids lies squeezed between the shell layers, ready to squirt on anyone who unwittingly gives it a crack. The cashew seed has a double-layered shell which is extremely hard to open. Australia has its own small cashew industry, but most of the cashews in our supermarkets are imported from South America, South East Asia, and Africa. Cashew nuts, on the other hand are exported far and wide. ![]()
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