Roasted Cashews Nutritional Facts

Cashew nuts are native to South America and grow in tropical climates around the world; currently the top producer of cashews is Vietnam. As with all nuts, cashews have many benefits to offer; they provide many minerals and vitamins which are essential to the healthy workings of the human body.

In addition to what is posted on the nutrition facts label, cashews provide minerals such as zinc, phosphorus, magnesium and selenium and vitamins such as B1, B2, niacin, panothenic acid, B6, folate, vitamin E and vitamin K; they also contain minimal salt, only 4 grams which is so small it does not show up on the nutritional facts label. Cashews have properties known to encourage heart health, to counteract diabetes and to help prevent gall bladder disease.

Most people eat cashews right out of the package or off the plate. However, roasting the cashews can add more taste and make them even more appealing. Cashews can be dry roasted, honey roasted, oil roasted or any other roasted you desire; experiment with different tastes, the cashew is versatile enough to take it.

Roasting cashews does not take away much in terms of nutrition; any loss of nutrition is minimal. However, depending on how you roast them you could be adding a lot more fat. After the cashews are roasted and cooled completely you should store them in an airtight container... if they last that long.

Cashews are my favorite nut of all time. They are soft to chew and tasty salted or unsalted; their taste can only be described as heavenly in my opinion. I usually have to limit myself to having them on special occasions or I would be eating them all the time; and even then I have to fight to limit myself to a handful a day. As with any nuts, you should not eat more than an ounce or two of cashews per day because of the high fat content. It is not always easy but it is possible.

The following is a recipe for dry roasting of unsalted cashews. If you want you can parboil the cashews in salted water before roasting them. If you do make sure they are completely dry before you place them in the oven.

If you prefer salted roasted cashews you can either parboil them or brush them with a small amount of butter, oil or no-fat cooking spray after they are roasted and still warm and then salt.

Cashew nuts are actually seeds of the cashew tree (Anacardium occidentale), they are attached to the bottom of the cashew apple. The cashew apple has a very short lifespan so is not commercially harvested, locals do make it into jams and liqueur however. The cashew itself is encased in a hard shell; this shell is removed during processing because it contains a caustic substance that can burn the hand.