Cashew Nut Tree With Fruit On It Stock Photo

The cashew tree Anacardium occidentale is a tropical evergreen tree that produces the cashew seed and the cashew apple pseudofruit. The tree can grow as high as 14 m, but the dwarf cultivars, growing up to 6 m, prove more profitable, with earlier maturity and greater yields. The cashew seed is often considered a nut in the culinary sense; this cashew nut is eaten on its own, used in recipes, or processed into cashew cheese or cashew butter. Like the tree, the nut is often simply called cashew. Culinary uses for cashew seeds in snacking and cooking are similar to those for all tree seeds called nuts.