Cashew fruit (not the nut, which grows on the outside of the fruit), is quite tasty and oddly filling. Try it if you ever have the opportunity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cashew#/media/File:Cashew_appl...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cashew#/media/File:Cashew_appl...
- Most Americans & Canadians are completely unaware of the fruit. Some Brazilians are unaware of the nut. I met at least a couple Brazilians (in Sao Paulo and another region that don't have cashew trees) who've eaten the fruit but have never had cashew nuts and didn't even know about the nut!
- All this tasty fruit exists above the nut, but--as far as I can tell--no effort is make to export the fruit. It might the problem of creating a market for a new product, or maybe the fruit doesn't travel well. Cashew juice is widely available in Brazil, but I wonder if most of the fruit goes to waste?
- Cashew nuts and ironically Brazil nuts are quite pricey in Brazil (at least in Sao Paulo). My thinking is that cashews are perceived as a rich person's snack in Brazil and priced accordingly. This leads to the circular problem that ordinary Brazilians don't eat many cashew nuts because it's expensive, so the domestic market for them stays small and for the affluent.
I got in trouble in first grade in Rio de Janeiro (Our Lady of Mercy school). I didn't understand the concept of having to "stay inside the premises". For the first few days I wandered, unknowingly, outside the lower-elementary area, outside the upper-elementary area, outside the high school area. I found the street vendor and bought a hot dog and a "refresco de caju" (cashew drink) those first several days. A nun caught my innocent act and no more hot dogs and caju for lunch.
Caju nuts I'm assuming are expensive because they are mostly exported. It's probably the same as arabica coffee in Colombia, it's too good to consume domestically.
Caju fruit you're probably right, does not travel well. Same as açaí, that won't go far without refrigeration or freezing.
This is expensive. R$50 buys you over two pounds of expensive beef cuts.
From Wikipedia: "Cashew nuts are more widely traded than cashew fruits, because the fruit, unlike the nut, is easily bruised and has a very limited shelf life." -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cashew