Cashew

French acajou, from Portuguese acajÃº, from acajuba or aka'iu.

Full definition of cashew

(plural cashews)

A tree, Anacardium occidentale, native to northeastern Brazil, now widely grown in tropical climates for its cashew nuts and cashew apples.

2002, P. K. Ray, Breeding Tropical and Subtropical Fruits, page 221,Soft-wood grafting and veneer grafting are successful in cashew.
2005, Roger Martin, Tree-Kangaroos of Australia and New Guinea, page 106,Also known as the Native Cashew, it is a member of the Anacardiaceae, the same plant family to which the Cashew and Mango trees belong.
2007, Alice Kurian, K. V. Peter (series editor), Commercial Crops Technology, Volume 8, Horticulture Science Series, page 63,Cashew (Anacardium occidental L.) is an export-oriented crop grown for its nuts, a true drupe.

1996, Thomas Payne, 17: Nuts, Laszlo Somogyi, Diane M. Barrett, Y. H. Hui (editors), Processing Fruits, page 529,In some countries, cashews continue to be cracked manually although cracking machinery and other shelling mechanisms have been introduced.
2004, Frederic Rosengarten, Jr., The Book of Edible Nuts, page 46,The bland cashew is a fitting substitute for higher priced almonds to extend the nut texture. In baking, however, almonds are more suitable for cake decoration than cashews.
2010, Dick Logue, 500 Low Glycemic Index Recipes, page 413,This is a spicy variation of Kung Pao Chicken using cashews rather than the more common peanuts.