The tree

The cashew nut tree is found throughout West Africa.

It has often been planted to stabilize sand dunes and prevent the desert from advancing. It also acts as a windbreak to protect crops.

The tree can reach 4 or 5 meters in height and requires considerable sunlight to bear a good crop.

The cashew nut tree can often be recognized by its umbrella-like shape, since it should not be pruned.

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The fruit

Today, a number of farms are specialized in the production of "cashew nuts".

In Senegal, the nuts ripen sometime in May and production continues into July or August. The start of the "rainy season" puts an end to pollination and the trees stop producing fruit.

The fruit must be harvested when it falls from the tree. This is the sign that the nut is ripe. The nut is attached to an "apple" known as a "false fruit". The first thing harvesters do is to separate the nut from the apple and then put the nuts to dry in the sun.

Sorting the unprocessed nuts

The nuts are then brought back to the village where they are sorted by the women in function of their size. This facilitates the different stages of the shelling process which follows.  Inside the shell is the cashew kernel (improperly called the cashew nut) which we often enjoy as an appetizer.

But let's get back to the village where the women have just finished sorting the nuts in function of their size.

Cooking

The nut shell must be "weakened" before it can be cracked and to achieve this, it must be cooked.

Traditionally, women either roast the nuts or cook them in oil. Both these methods can be dangerous and leave the kernel with an unpleasant taste. AFRICAJOU's processors use neither of these techniques.

In order to preserve the full natural aroma of the cashew nut, the processors selected by AFRICAJOU steam cook the nuts before putting them out to dry in the sun on elevated racks for several hours.

Shelling

Once the nuts have been dried, they will be taken one by one and placed in a shelling machine to be opened.

Using a small stylet, the operator will then carefully extract the kernel. It will still be covered by a fine skin, which must also be removed.

These two steps of the operation are performed wearing gloves to avoid the burns which may occur when touching "cashew balm", a highly corrosive product lining the shell walls.

Dépelliculage

To remove the bitter skin still protecting the kernel, the nuts must be dried in an oven and then taken again one by one to "peel off" the skin.

This painstaking task is often performed by the village women.

Sorting the kernels

No longer protected by the skin, the kernel is now very fragile. It can easily break into small pieces or "splits". This would represent a major loss in added value for the processors of the nuts.

The nuts are promptly re-sorted to remove any bad kernels which might have been overlooked and to separate any chips or splits from the whole nuts.

On the international market, nuts are put into one of eight different "grades" or categories according to their size.

Vacuum Packing and Traceability

To guarantee perfect hygiene, AFRICAJOU processors vacuum pack the nuts as quickly as possible. This ensures that the nuts will travel well and be well-preserved.

A label is placed on each pack, indicating the batch number, the date of packaging and the water content. This makes it possible to trace the nuts.

When the kernels arrive at the oil mill, they are cold pressed to produce the wonderful "AFRICAJOU First Cold Pressed Cashew Nut Oil".

It takes 20 kilos of unprocessed nuts and a great deal of hard work to produce 1 liter of cashew nut oil.

Depending on its age, a tree in Senegal produces between 15 and 25 kg of unprocessed nuts per year!