Utilization of some cashew by‐products

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to show how to develop useful products from cashew by‐products, to help expand the income base of cashew farmers in the Savanna area.Design/methodology/approachInvestigations into the utilization of some by‐products from cashew were carried out using the apples and gum from the cashew tree. The apples were processed into clarified and non‐clarified juices and jam. Cashew gum, a by‐product of the cashew tree, was used in the development of baked doughnuts as a fat replacer. The gum was used at five different levels in the preparation of the products – 0, 20, 40, 60 and 80 per cent of fat used.FindingsThe average yield of cashew juice after extraction with a screw press ranged from 53.0 to 54.6 per cent. Results on chemical and sensory analyses of the two juices showed that clarification with Polyvinylpyrrolidone reduced both the chemical and sensory quality of the juices. Protein content, total sugar concentration and K content reduced from 0.548, 58.23 and 4.23 per cent to 0.443, 18.50 and 3.32 per cent, respectively. Fat contents of the baked doughnuts were 16.72, 14.68, 8.10, 8.24 and 5.82 per cent for products with 0, 20, 40, 60 and 80 per cent cashew gum, respectively. Results of sensory analysis showed that decreasing the fat content reduced the flavour, moistness and consumer acceptance of the products. However, there was no significant difference between the products. Therefore, it is suggested that cashew gum can replace fat in baked dough nuts up to 20 per cent.Originality/valueThese findings are important to cashew farmers, processors, nutritionists and consumers as a whole.