Determination of Nutritional Quality Between Indigenous and Imported Cashew Nuts

Anacardium occidentale, commonly known as the cashew tree, is native to Brazil but is now grown globally. Cashew nuts, harvested from these trees, are in high demand, leading India to import them from African countries. In a study comparing indigenous and imported cashew nuts, three nutritional parameters were examined: acid value, saponification value, and iodine value. The findings revealed that the acid values for indigenous and imported cashew nuts were 0.48 mg KOH/g and 0.45 mg KOH/g, respectively. The saponification values were 156 mg KOH/g for indigenous nuts and 148 mg KOH/g for imported ones. The iodine values were 48 mg KOH/g for indigenous and 51 mg KOH/g for imported nuts. These results indicate that the nutritional parameters are quite similar between the two types of cashew nuts. Despite popular belief that indigenous cashews have superior nutritional quality compared to imported ones, the study found no significant nutritional difference. The distinction lies in taste, attributed to natural sugar content, which was not analyzed in this study. Both types of cashew nut oil are nutritionally superior to many other edible oils available in the market, making cashew nut oil a viable alternative oil source.