Value addition in cashew apple: A review

Abstract

Cashew apple is a tropical fruit which is an important byproduct of the cashew nut processing industry. It can be consumed as fresh fruit, but also possess sensory and nutritional characteristics for food process industrialization, due to its fleshy pulp, soft peel, no seeds and strong exotic flavor. These fruits are being wasted across various parts of the cashew growing countries due to its short production period and high perishability. It is a less utilized product because of its astringent and acrid principles. Numerous quantities of cashew apple are being wasted annually because the focus was on nuts alone. There is a need to address these problems by developing a technique which is easily adoptable and cost effective. Also, the processing should not affect the quality of the product. Cashew apple and their products have a potential market in the domestic and international forum. Though there are some limitations, certain physical and chemical processing steps are to be followed to bring out quality and palatable cashew apple products with significant nutritive qualities. The value added products from cashew apple is a thrust area of research for food technologists, industrialists and farmers and of course these products are a definite alternate solution for nutritional source. Processing of cashew apple will turn out to be economic potential for farmers, entrepreneurs and consumers. In this present review, we discussed about the feasibility of production of various value added cashew apple processed foods.