Cashew plants are usually grown from seeds. They begin bearing the second year, are in full production by the 10th year, and continue bearing for another 20 years. The yield varies from 1 to 100 pounds per tree. Cashew fruit ripens in 2 to 3 months and is harvested from the tree or picked up soon after falling.
Cashew fruit contain a potent skin irritant toxin called �urushiol� within the dark green nut shells. This must be removed when the seed inside is processed for consumption; this is done by hulling the nuts, a somewhat hazardous process. Exceedingly painful skin burns (similar to poison ivy burns) among processing workers are frequent.
In the past, cashew fruit juice was used to treat influenza, and people also brewed a tea of leaves and bark to treat diarrhea and colic in infants.
Caju is one of the best fruits that I like during the summer. There are many types of �caju� � �vhoddle caju� (large cashew), �lhan caju� (small cashew), �holdulle caju� (yellow cashew), �tambdde caju� (red cashew), �rosall caju� (juicy cashew), �dikalle caju,� etc. A ripe cashew plucked from a tree tastes the best. I can never resist the temptation of plucking a good, ripe cashew from a tree. Whenever I travel by motorbike or car while on vacation in Goa, my eyesight is always set on the roadside cashew trees. As soon as I see a ripe cashew on a tree, I stop my motorbike or if traveling by car I ask the driver to stop the car and proceed to the tree. If the cashew is on a lower branch, I try to pluck it by bending the branch. If it is on a high branch, I pick up a stone, aim at it and am mostly able to bring it down with the first hit, which not only makes me feel good but also takes me back to my childhood. If I don�t succeed in bringing down the cashew within a couple of attempts, I climb the trunk and shake the branch, collect the cashew, wash it with water, hold the cashew by its seed, bite off the stem area and throw it out and place the whole cashew (depending on its size) into my mouth, at the same time twisting and removing the seed and making sure that juice does not run out of my mouth and fall on my clothes as once it dries it creates stains which cannot easily be removed. Although we have cashew trees on our hilly plot, the norm in childhood was to steal from a neighbor's compound. That created an adventure for us and we enjoyed it very much. The best time to eat cashews is early in the morning from dawn until 9:00 a.m., after which time they become hot and not so pleasant to eat.
RAW CASHEW SEEDS (FOKAM)
Besides cashew seeds, which is a great business in Goa, we also have �FOKAM or BIBE� (raw cashew seeds.) As children we ate a lot of fokam, especially those who had cashew trees of their own. Whenever we were hungry, we would visit our properties or the hill, pick up fokam from unripe cashews on a tree and remove the inner kernel as follows:
Take two small dry sticks
Hold them in each hand
Place the �fok� (raw cashew seed) flat on the ground and remove the eye from the middle of the seed with a stick
Place the �fok� on the ground on its back and keep the big thumb of your right foot on its lower part
Make a gash in the middle on the upper tip of the fok
Hold a dry stick in each hand and place both sticks into the gash with cross hands
Apply pressure in opposite directions until the shell tears apart
Place the right hand stick under the kernel and lift it up
Keep aside removed seeds
Once through the lot, clean the seeds with a cloth and peel off the skin and enjoy eating them. Please keep in mind that �fokancho/bibeancho dik� (cardol) is very caustic � it even creates boils on the skin. In the olden days, the toxic oil from cashew nuts was used as external worm medicine to kill botfly larvae under the skin. The shell provides insect-repelling vesicant oil which in the olden days was applied to roof wood to protect it from white ants.
Speaking of the �bibeancho dik,� I remember an incident about a lady from Gaumvaddy, Anjuna. Many people use fokam to prepare �fokanchi/bibeanchi koddi� (curry of fokam) and this lady was one of them. Every afternoon she would climb the hill behind my house during lunch time between 12:00 and 1:00 p.m. and return with a �sakachi pothi� (gunny bag) filled with �fokam,� which she would clean and then prepare a sumptuous curry for her family. Removing fokam is a big loss to the �cajkar� (the guy who hires the hill for a cashew crop) because it not only leaves cashew fruits in a half grown stage but also deprives him of cashew seeds. �Laddko cajkar� (the guy who hired Anjuna hill for a cashew crop) caught the lady many times and even beat her, but she wouldn�t give up the habit. They warned her that if they caught her again, they would make her life so miserable that she would find it difficult to live, but still she didn�t care. Here we had two adamant people - Laddko who was bent on protecting his crop, and the woman who thought it was her right to plunder Laddko of his cashew seed crop. One fine day, they caught the woman with a big haul of fokam, which obviously was a big loss for them. As promised, they stripped her naked and squeezed �bibeancho dik� on her body, including her private parts. It took her around a month to recover from the punishment, but I saw that shameless woman go up the hill soon after she recovered, or was it that she couldn�t live without eating fokam? Some people never learn!
Nowadays, many people sell fokam in villages and towns. They are sold in lots of 100. In the year 2002, I paid Rs.30 per 100 fokam; in 2003, I paid Rs.40.00 per 100 fokam and last year I paid Rs.50.00 per 100 fokam. I love to eat fokam and never return to the Gulf without eating them. The only difference now is that I pay for them, but they surely take me down the memory lane of my childhood.
The liquid contained within the shell casing of the cashew, known as Cashew Nutshell Liquid (CNSL) has a variety of industrial uses which were first developed in the 1930s. CNSL is fractionated in a process similar to the distillation of petroleum, and has two primary end products: solids which are pulverized and used as friction particles for brake linings, and an amber colored liquid which is aminated to create phenalkamine curing agents and resin modifiers. Phenalkamines are primarily used in epoxy coatings for the marine and flooring markets, as they have intense hydrophobic properties and are capable of remaining chemically active at low temperatures.
CASHEW SEEDS (CAJUNCHEO BIEO)
As children, we gathered as many cashew seeds as possible during cashew season, dried them thoroughly, and stored them in a �petrolacho/telacho dobo� (kerosene/oil tin) for use during the monsoon season. Whenever it rained continuously for two or three days or more, we could not step out of the house, as all roads would be flooded. So, this was the time we would make use of the provision of cashew seeds. The rainy season sometimes can be very boring, especially when one�s movement is restricted within the four walls of a house, but we had our ways to liven it up. Out of boredom I would ask myself: �Atam hanv kitem kortolom?� (What am I going to do now?) Suddenly, the idea of frying cashew seeds would cross my mind and I would say: �Atam hanv bieo baztolom� (I will fry cashew seeds now). Thus, my home cashew seed factory would begin. I had saved the belly (lower part) of a large �matiecho kovso� (clay pot) to which I had made three small holes at the bottom. I called it �Bieo bazpachi kail� (Seed frying pan). I would place approximately one hundred cashew seeds in the �kail�, put it on the �chul� and start a fire underneath. As the �kail� got heated, the seed coating would give out oil which would drip into the fire and make it flare up and gradually the seeds in the �kail� caught fire. I would then stir the seeds with a bamboo stick until they were done and then put out the fire with the help of sand which was kept ready in a small tin. If anyone happened to pass by my house at that time, he/she would immediately know that I was frying cashew seeds because of the aroma of smoke which exited the house through �ganvtti nolle� (old roof tiles.)
It was now time to break the coating and extract the kernel. I wouldn�t do this job for everyone. So, each one was given his/her share and I would keep my share as well as mother�s � this is the least I could do for my mother. After all, she did everything for me and this was the only opportunity when I could reciprocate a bit. Each person placed cashew seeds in a coconut shell and was ready to devour them. Everyone then cleaned his/her hands and began to peel and eat the seeds. Mother would prepare and serve us a cup of hot tea. We would then talk over tea and enjoy the seeds. Believe me, the taste of cashew seeds during the monsoon season is totally different from the taste in the summer, and the cold weather outside really makes one enjoy them!
Cashew seeds are a common ingredient in Goan cooking. For example, there are dishes such as chicken with cashews, biryani with cashews, dodol with cashews, halva with cashews, etc. In fact, nowadays you can buy broken cashew seeds which are a little cheaper than whole seeds and which are meant for use in cooking. They can also be ground into a spread similar to peanut butter. Cashews have a very high oil content, and they are used in some other nut butters to add extra oil.
CASHEW SEED GAME (CAJUNCHEA BIEANCHO KHELL)
As children, during the summer season we would play a game with cashew seeds called �Cajunchea Bieancho Khell.� The number of players depended upon a circle of friends � the more the friends, the more the players. The game would mostly take place after we had been around on private properties or on the hill and collected a pocketful or two of cashew seeds. Here is how it was played:
After we had enough cashew seeds in our pockets, we would assemble on a road, gather mud with our hands and make a small �mer� (line) of mud. We would then plant cashew seeds on the line beginning with a large seed called �Sid�dha� (straight - actually everyone in those days called it �sud�dha�) which would be planted upright, followed by as many seeds as we wanted to wager which would be planted on their backs. The seed next to sid�dha was called �sid�dhachi bail� (sid�dha�s wife) and the remaining seeds were supposed to be children and family members. Once seeds were planted on the line, we would count about 8 steps (about 12 feet) from it and draw a line on the road with the right foot from where the contest would take place. While everyone stood on both sides of the line with planted seeds, the competitor would stand at the drawn line, hold a �biecho botto� (large cashew seed) firmly in his right hand, raise the arm to eye level to a distance of about a foot away from the right eye, make a fist with the left hand and place it under the right wrist in order to hold the right arm stable, close the left eye, take aim at the sid�dha just as you would at prey with a gun, and fire the shot at the line. Of course, one needed good aim to win the game. If he hit the sid�dha he would win the whole line of seeds; if he hit the sid�dhachi bail, he would win the whole line except the sid�dha; and if he hit a seed in the middle of the line, he would win all the seeds on the line from that seed. Many of us were excellent players. The excellent players mostly won big on the first shot while the remaining players won big only by fluke. Do you remember the good old saying �Bier nam zalear bottear?� It originated from this simple game of cashew seeds and it refers to those guys who hit the sid�dha by fluke! Obviously this game, too, sometimes resulted in quarrels and fights from defeated, disgruntled players.
We had a big botteachi caj in our compound. So, I would trade two or three small seeds for one botteachi bi depending on its size!
In a way, this game was a kind of gambling with the only difference being that we used cashew seeds instead of money. However, from the 1970�s onwards it did turn into a gambling game. Children used cashew seeds to play the game but the payment was made in money � the minimum wager per seed was 10 Naya Paise and the maximum was 25 Naya Paise.
GERMINATED CASHEW SEEDS (GODDAVLIM)
Unlike today, in the 1950�s and 1960�s the rains in Goa would start in the middle of the month of May but sometimes it would rain a few days earlier. As soon as the cashew season came to an end, it was a practice by us children to collect fallen cashew seeds which would be the last collection of the season. However, if it rained suddenly, we would miss that collection, but all was not lost as those cashew seeds which remained uncollected under the trees would germinate on the third or fourth day of the rainfall and turn into �goddavlim.� Whenever the rain subsided, we would visit our property and even the hill, as cajkars would all be gone by then, collect as many goddavlim as possible and feast on them. The goddavlim taste as good as fokam. It has been many years since I ate goddavlim and this is because I return to the Gulf before the start of the rainy season, and as we know the rainy season in the recent times begins sometimes as late as the end of June or even early July. Anyway, this is one of the things I look forward to enjoying as soon as I take my normal retirement. You are most welcome to join me in my adventure in Anjuna. Just like cashew seeds, fokam and goddavlim can also be served with drinks as �chakna� (appetizer.)
NIRA & URRAK
The �cajkar� and his workers gather cashew fruits from all over the hill in specially prepared bamboo baskets with a rope handle and dump them in a rock-carved basin. They arrange two wooden poles one on each side of the rock basin and fix a horizontal bamboo bar on it. Then they stand in the middle of the rock, place their hands on the bar and begin to press the cashew fruits with their feet which results in the extraction of cashew juice. The process is called �Caju mol�lunk� (Squeezing of cashew juice.� Once through the lot, they then step out of the basin and place large �lobram� (boulders) on the crushed cashew fruit. Clear cashew juice then slowly drips through an outlet made for this purpose and this is called �Nira.� It gives you a kick if taken in a large quantity. In the olden days, we would go to Laddko cajkar�s bhatti (distillery) on our hill and drink nira in a kotti (coconut shell). In the late 1950�s, the elderly in Gaumvaddy and I attended Fr. Freita�s funeral in Parra. Instead of going to Parra by road, we took a short cut through Anjuna/Parra hill. On our way back, we visited the cashew distillery which was housed in a �colvachi khomp� (a hut made of bamboo sticks and �kon�nam.� Laddko and his workers welcomed us with a big smile and said �Atanch ami borem dharechem urrak kaddlam; thoddem pieon polleiat nhum?� (We have just distilled good urrak; why don�t you try some? And pointing at me they said: �Baba, tum irlo niro chakon polle.� While one guy served me nira in a kotti, the others served urrak to the elderly also in kottis. My thirst was quenched and I was already feeling a little inebriated but didn�t refuse the offer every time they said �anik irlo pie baba, tanenk boro� (have a little more, it is good for thirst.) The trip via the hill was definitely better than the road trip!
The nira is further distilled and the first phase is called �poile dharechem urrak� (urrak of the first distillation) the strength of which is between 8-10o (eight to ten gra�). �Dusre dharechem urrak� (urrak of the second distillation) is much stronger � 11-14o (eleven to fourteen gra�). The third distillation results in a strong Caju Fenni which measures between15-21o (fifteen to twenty one gra�.)
Just like gin, urrak is one of the best summer drinks in Goa. In the past, urrak drinkers did not buy urrak in bottles - they bought a �kovso or kovse� (pot or pots) and stored it at home for their daily use. As soon as Bomboikars landed in Goa, they would ask a resident relative or neighbor to buy a �kovso� of urrak for them, and their holiday spirits would soar as soon as they took possession of the kovso!
Good drinkers take the urrak neat but some prefer to mix it with a soft drink. In the 1960�s and 1970�s, many mixed urrak with Dr. Jack Sequeira�s FANTA and when it was discontinued they opted for LIMCA. One of the best ways to drink Urrak is as follows:
Pour some urrak in a small container Add 2-3 spoons sugar and stir it well Add the juice of one lime to the urrak Pour the mixture in a bottle and shake it well Keep the bottle in the refrigerator - serve it cool
If you have many drinkers, use a bucket to prepare the urrak mixture and remove and serve it with a ladle usually used by milkmen to remove milk from a container.
The intoxication of urrak takes place slowly. So, although you may have consumed a bottle of urrak at one sitting, you may not feel high but that does not mean that you won�t get intoxicated. There are two factors that give a faster kick � going out in the sun and exposing oneself to the breeze. For example, if you ride a motorcycle or drive a car with open windows, you may suddenly fall asleep and meet with an accident. As it is, never ride or drive when on drinks.
Continued ..........
Moi-mogan,
Domnic Fernandes
Anjuna/Dhahran, KSA
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