How do Cashews Grow?? - Smarter Every Day 44

Hey, it's me Destin, welcome to Smarter Every Day. Have you ever just sat down and taken a really close look at nuts? I've been doing that for the last few minutes, and I've come up with some pretty interesting observations. I mean, cashews and peanuts have very similar taste and texture, but they're fundamentally different. Chances are, if you live in the western world, you know exactly what a peanut plant looks like, but you probably have no clue what a cashew plant looks like. Why is that?

Aah, so this is what a cashew looks like. (African) Yeah, it is what a cashew looks like. (Destin) So is this.. do you eat this part? Is this the nut? -No, this one. [...] you need to get dry. You gon take this and take it inside your fire, so after, there is a food inside of this. Yeah.

(Destin) What about this? Can you eat this? -Yeah, this one you want to eat it. (Destin) It's a fruit? -Yeah. (Destin) So that's cashew fruit. -Yeah. And this is the cashew nut? -Cashew nut, yeah. Aah. -If you want, you can plant this. If you plant it, you have a cashew. So, cashew nut, cashew fruit. What does this taste like? Can I bite it? -Yeah, you can bite it. Is it good? It's very good... hmm. Sweet. Very sweet. I've never seen that before. See, I didn't know that there was a fruit.

And these are cashew trees. Yeah, I see. If you don't know what a cashew plant looks like, it's because you've never seen one, because they don't grow in the climate where you're at. Like most awesome foods, cashews were introduced to the Europeans after the Spanish conquistadors came over, and they discovered it in South America and Central America. They discovered cashews, peanuts, chocolate, vanilla, strawberries, pineapples. Basically, everything you need for a good banana split, except the cow.

I.. I thought it was interesting. Hope you're getting Smarter Every Day. I'm Destin. Bye. Are you as fast as a rabbit? -Nup. He's as fast as a rabbit? -He's not [...] -He was lying down on [...] When it's hot, they can't move. -Yeah, they can move, but you know sometimes.. They're like squirrels. Do you know what a squirrel is? They're like squirrels in America. We hunt squirrel where I come from. Yep. We eat them. -It's nice? Uh, no. It's not nice. It tastes bad.

[ Captions by Andrew Jackson ]