Question

Edible part of cashew nut is
A. Cotyledons
B. Thalamus
C. Fleshy calyx
D. Both A and B

Answer 1

Hint: The cashew nut is produced from the tropical cashew tree that also grows cashew apple. It is not a true nut fruit. The cashew commonly called cashew nuts mature and develop early and give higher yields.

Complete step by step answer: Cashew nut is commonly called cashew and is used to prepare cashew butter, cashew cheese and it is also used in many other recipes. Caju name is given to the cashew tree by Portuguese meaning ‘the nut that produces itself’. The cashew tree is a tall tropical tree and its fruit turn yellow to red and its flowers are produced in a panicle or corymb. Cashew tree’s fruit is an accessory fruit and sometimes also called a pseudocarp or false fruit. The pseudocarp or commonly called the false fruit is an oval or pear-shaped structure that is a hypocarpium that develops from the pedicel and the receptacle of the cashew flower. The cashew apple is edible when it ripens into a yellow or red structure and has a strong "sweet" smell and taste. The cashew apple consists of cashew nuts as it grows in a cashew apple. The true fruit of the cashew tree is a kidney or boxing-glove-shaped drupe that grows at the end of the cashew apple and the drupe develops first on the tree, and on the pedicel expansion, it grows into the cashew apple. The true fruit contains a single seed, which is often considered a nut or here the cashew nut and the seed is surrounded by a double shell that consists of phenolic resin, anacardic acid that is a potent skin irritant chemically related to the better-known and also toxic allergenic oil urushiol, which is found in the related poison ivy and thus, some people are allergic to cashews, but they are a less frequent allergen than tree nuts or peanuts. The cashew nut is just the seed and not a true nut fruit and its cotyledons thalamus are edible. The cashew nut tree bears a false fruit which is a modification of the thalamus that is known as the cashew apple and is edible. A fleshy calyx is not found in the fruit of cashew nuts.
Hence, the correct answer is option D.

Note: More than one cashew nuts can also grow in a cashew apple and the cashew apples are also used to make cashew juice. India, Vietnam, Ivory Coast along with Central America, Caribbean, South America, and Brazil are the producers of cashew nuts.