CASHEW NUT-KAJU-PARANGI/KASU ANDI Dear friends,
Yesterday I waspurchasing items from a slightly distant supermarket, well known for new itemsand daily refilling. I was purchasing things after finishing my works in theNationalised Bank closed to it. Normally the auto driver comes with me and Ipay extra money to him for assistance. While picking up items,I took two packs of cashew nuts with pepper coating. Because the item isdearer, I took two packs. While putting second pack, the auto driver remindedme, Sir, already one pack is taken. I told him, yes, it may not be availableafter a week. Better we take two. After paying for thebill, in a bag from the supermarket, I returned home. Always while purchasingitems I purchase a bag also, which is used to keep daily waste of home and itis placed in a fibre waste box. Corporation of Tambaram collects daily waste. While enjoying thecashew with inner sweetness, after cutting open the portion above zip lock,memories of cashew and cashew fruits came to me. Exceptnostalgic memories, nothing important in this posting. Times pass reading. Gopalakrishnan 24-8-23. 1. Vasudevan and tender cashew While studying in theprimary school the eldest and well grown boy was Vasudevan. Not so good instudies, he used to bring tender mango, tender cashew etc. to school along with a small knife. He willcut and give pieces of mango to those whom he liked, any other asking, a verysmall piece. I was either a good friend or disliked by him. When he broughttender cashews and split and gave tender cashew, I used to ask for a half andused to eat with pleasure. Raw cashew ispoisonous, I read very late in life. 2 Cashew tree In my native home in the north east corner ofcompound we had two cashew trees, one gave large yellow fruit and anothernormal red fruit. Even in my primary school days it was there, but my memoriesare while in middle school days. The large fruits are plucked before fallingcalling a person from next house, who did similar works. We children were warned not to eat more than two fruits. Theyellow one was sweeter while red one was sorer. Later I read cashew fruits are used to make Indianmade foreign liquor. During 1985’s I could visit a factory in Hosur Industrialarea, producing cashew juice and grapes juice and fermenting and supplying to companiesin Bangalore. Bigger cashews were sold in the weekly market. It bought good cash for miscellaneous purchases. Smaller ones wereroasted with sand in an iron pan and when cooled, the cashews were hit onsides, the skin will break to pieces, and nut will appear. The outer red skinwas removed and eaten. Mostly parents roasted the nuts. I knew verylate about cashew skin oil, made for applying on wounds not healing, prepared fromcashew skin and other uses of cashew skin oil. I do not know why the treeswere cut and removed in later days. 3 Cashew nuts as an item added in sweet dishes. When grown up I enjoyedcashew added in laddus, halwa, dishes like pongal etc. Not eating cashewnut as a snack item. Cashew nuts wereavailable in provision shops and it was weighed and given. 4. Munthirikootai Cashew is a drape. Usageof it for meaning a hurried person, answering a question before it is completedetc. I came to know after coming to Tamilnadu. Usage of the word munthirikkottai is very common inTamilnadu. In Malayalam somewhatidentical usage is “kalapettannu kettal kayar edukkunna swabhavam” (Taking a rope to tie the calfon hearing an oxen has given birth to a calf) 5. Difference in growth of cashew trees. Whereas cashew treesgrow more vertically in Kerala, in Tamilnadu, they grow more horizontally. Onecan pluck the fruit standing on the ground with hands even from a grown uptree. My experience is from cashew plantations in Nagerkovil. Panrutti about 200 KMs from Chennai on the Trichy route is famousfor jackfruits and cashews.While passing through NH and crossing Panrutti, one can see number of shopsdisplaying cashews in packs with rate. In many shops quality can be better;some shops with lower rate may mostly cheat. What we get in supermarkets now is superior quality processed in factories at Panruti and packed.However prices are more than ones obtaining from bakeries and shops. 5. Cashew nut – origin of English word. Even in college days I believedthe origin of English word cashew for Parangi andi (Parangandi) came from anincident. After getting out fromthe shipyard and coming down to the road, a British saw a lady selling cashew.When the British person asked the lady what it is, with shivering she replied kasinettu (Eight cashews fora kasu). British said- Oh cashew and purchased a few from her. Verylate after studying History I could know, the word cashew came from Portuguesewho came to India before British. “The Cashew (AnacardiumOccidentale) was introduced in India by the Portuguese in 16th Century. Overthe years, cashew became a crop with high economic value and attained thestatus of an export–oriented commodity, earning considerable foreign exchangefor the country”. “Etymology. The English name derives from the Portuguese name for the fruit of the cashew tree: caju (Portuguesepronunciation: [kaˈʒu]), also known as acaju, which itself is from theTupian word acajú, literally meaning "nut that produces itself”. Caju became cashew. In North Kerala still people use the term Kaju forcashew 6. Kollam kandavanu Illam Venda In south Kerala Quilonis famous cashew factories. Most employees are women. Nowadays if Indiancashews are not available, it is imported through ship. Kollam is the Malayalamword for Quilon. There is a place on the way from Badagara to Cannore. It istold people from south Kerala kollam settled in the North in that area, andplace name also became Kollam. Having ship yard, largenumber of factories processing cashews, making tiles, and seeing developedcity, many liked Quilon, and a saying came- Kollam kandavanu illam Venda. I will continue in next posting -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/1764865848.107599.1692940976581%40mail.yahoo.com.
