Indian cashews
Swathy Enterprises
SWATHY ENTERPRISES
Post Bag no.2156 , Kollam , Kerala 691013
India
ph: 91 94477 98048
fax: 91 474 2764030
alt: 91 474 2768048
swathyen
Cashews
-Origin
-History of cashew trade
-Export of cashew kernels
-Import of Raw seeds
Origin & Consumption pattern
The Cashew tree (Anacardium Occidentale), is a tropical evergreen native to the Americas but is now widely cultivated in Asia and Africa . It is a short, stocky, low-spreading, evergreen tropical tree. Four centuries ago, the adventurous Portuguese came sailing down the Indian coasts and brought with them this valuable treenut "Cashew", the Favourite nut of the world. Cashew came, conquered and took deep roots in the entire coastal region of India . Cashew found the Indian soil more homely than its homeland. Later it spread as a popular crop to other parts of India .
Seed is found in the lower portion of the cashew apple . Cashew in its natural form is a soft, white, meaty kernel covered by a testa membrane contained within the thick hard outer shells of kidney shaped seeds which protects the tasty kernel from the ravages of nature until it is processed.
India is the largest grower , processor and exporter in the world . It is also interesting to understand , that the new statistics of consumer interests done during 2009 has proved India is also the number one consumer of cashew kernels in the world overtaking USA .
Cashew kernels is consumed all over the world as a premium snack and nowadays more used as a preferred ingredient due to its excellent flavour and unique texture in large array of foods like sweets , dates, ice-creams and so on . It can be dry or oil roasted , salted , coated with chocolate , spices , honey etc .
History of the Cashew Trade
Indian achievements in the cashew industry by far have not come easily.
Even though not much is known of the origins of the industry, it has been recorded that cashew processing on a commercial scale was first started in mid 1920's by Roch Victoria, a Sri Lankan who migrated to Quilon (Kollam).
He was assisted by Swaminathan from Madras . First exports have been made by W.T. Anderson who set up a business under the name Indian Nut Company in Quilon. A cottage industry flourished at that time across the Quilon town. Cashew nuts were fried in pans and kernels extracted, blanched, graded, and packed in wooden tea chests lined with newspaper before being shipped to the USA .
Later on, metal tin containers replaced tea chests.
Tin containers were vacuumed using hand operated vacuum pumps and were sealed. It was only in 1954 that 'Vita pack' machines were used to infuse tin containers with carbon dioxide gas.
Export of cashew kernels from India began to grow and many of the small time processors supplying cashew kernels to 'India Nut Company' ventured out and became exporters on their own account. The pattern of business that evolved comprised exporter, broker/agent, importer/ buyer and end-user. Agents/brokers promoted individual exporters on an exclusive basis. Import of raw cashew from Africa was introduced to cater to the growing demand for kernel as the international market share began to grow from 45 tons in 1923 to 1350 tons in 1939.
Import volumes expanded further during 1940 to 1941 to cater to the ever-rising demand that came from the exporter-processors.
The industry began to grow further with the expansion of capacities and ever increasing number of processing units. This made importers to take a speculative position on the commodity. To overcome obstacles suffered at the hands of the importers, industry leaders formed a 'Cashew Syndicate'.
Using resources pooled by the processors involved, the Syndicate began to purchase Indian raw nuts on pre-determined prices for distribution on the basis of the previous years performance.
Though it was a success at the beginning, the syndicate did not survive for long as it was not formed with a requisite legal framework.
It was 1955, the Cashew Export Promotion Council (CEPC) was formed under the purview of the Ministry of Commerce with the mandate to guide the industry in promoting exports of cashew kernel and allied products.
(published in ' daily news 'srilankan daily- march edition )
Export of Cashew Kernels
(i)The process
Stages of processing
Raw cashew nuts (Seeds) ---Roasting(at 100 C for 10 mins) --- Shelling ---
Drying (In Borma for 12 hours at 80 C)---- Cooling ---- Peeling ---Grading ---
Cashew kernels ----Packing
(ii)Grades & Specifications
Specifications of Indian cashew kernels are as per international standards . We can offer the following grades maintaining quality parameters as per CEPC / AFI standards according to the requirement of the customer/buyer .
White Wholes
W180
W210
W240
W320
W450
W500
Scorched Wholes
SW
SW180
SW210
SW240
SW320
SW450
SW500
Dessert Wholes
SSW (Scorched wholes seconds)
DW ( Dessert wholes)
Brokens
White pieces
B (Butts)
S (Splits)
LWP(Large white pieces)
SWP(Small white pieces)
BB (Baby Bits)
Scorched small pieces
SB (Scorched butts)
SS (Scorched splits)
SP (Scorched pieces)
SSP(Scorched small pieces)
Dessert pieces
SPS (Scorched pieces seconds)
DP (Dessert pieces)
CASHEW KERNELS GRADE CHART
SWATHY ENTERPRISES
Post Bag no.2156 , Kollam , Kerala 691013
India
ph: 91 94477 98048
fax: 91 474 2764030
alt: 91 474 2768048
swathyen