Seeds

The more I learn, the more the same word comes up: Why? Why would anyone try to make money doing this? They grow on trees and they are a seed. What many people don’t know, or at least what I didn’t know, is that the tree not only produces the seed, but also produces apples.

The apples are quite sweet and very juicy, but it is difficult to transport them because the skin is fragile. I’m sure the reason I’d never eaten this difficult to ship and tasty fruit in Los Angeles is because the Cashew Tree grows in tropical climates.

The Cashew Tree begins flowering and the first beginnings of the seed pod become visible. As the flower dissipates and the seed matures an apple begins to grow.


The seed pod is a dark kidney shaped hideous looking thing; I’m reminded of some yucky worm like creature. But, aside from John, everyone I know loves cashew nuts and, therefore, my unscientific conclusion is this: it’s not relevant what they look like in their natural state, largely because no one knows and wouldn't care anyway.

Each apple has one seed. Why on earth did anyone think it would be a good idea to mass produce and sell cashew nuts! I mean cashew 'seeds'. One seed pod per fruit. How can anyone make money from this massive effort? One tree can produce a lot of fruit, but think of the hours of work each tree represents!

One must remove them from the tree, detach them from the apple, dry them, roast them, separate them from the hard leathery pod, pack them and ship them. And, the juice of the apple stains clothes, so there is an added step if you are not careful: shopping for new clothes.

My friends in the village wanted to ensure I understood the whole process. Recently, during the after school program, they brought cashew pods to roast so I could witness it first-hand. A hot fire is built and the seeds are put onto a roasting pan. They are stirred and mixed. Then the pan is removed and the cashew seeds are carefully removed. It's a messy process, fun to watch and even better to eat the seeds fresh and hot from the fire. What a treat.

I needed to know more about this fruit phenomenon.

Nigeria, Tanzania, India and Brazil account for the largest producers of Cashews. Vietnam and Indonesia recently entered this market. We love our cashew seeds. The United States imports 50% of the global market of cashew seeds! Last year, India exported 108,131 tons of cashews! Are you kidding me? One seed per fruit and India single-handedly exported how many tons? Now that is dedication.

Now I need to know how this is possible.
Here’s a video on YouTube showing people removing the cashew seed from the pod. Imagine.



And, here is more detail; a factory in Benin.


Nuts and seeds are a daily part of my diet. When I need a snack many times I will go into a convenience store and pick up a small bag of cashews. When I return home in just a short couple of months, I will be better prepared to appreciate three ounces of cashew nuts at less than $2 per bag.

But, I’m still curious. What else do we get from this tree? Well, it turns out the answer is “Quite a bit!”

Tribes in Surinam use the seed oil as an external worm medicine to kill botfly larvae, wine is made to cure dysentary in the Amazon, shampoos, lotions, scalp creams are made from parts tree bark, oils and leaves; We get salted nuts, plain nuts, dry roasted nuts, oil roasted, jumbo whole nuts, mixed pieces, honey roasted nuts, Trader Joes Lime and Chili and Sesame Honey Cashews, cashew juice, apples,cashew butter, cashew oil, cashew art (compliments of eBay-hey it's not my art! I'm just the reporter), cashew brittle, cashew granola. I need to take a breath and stop here, I’m beginning to wonder if I’m related to Forest Gump.
Oh, and one more thing. The cashew apple provides me with a perfectly amazing cashew smoothie. Cheers!

Who Would Know?

The crab - it's not a pet. The crabs live in the ground and storm drains. The fishermen set traps at night. They collect them and then sell them to Trinidad for a big price. They live in the ground...Who would have thunk? I guess my Los Angeles is showing.

What’s in that Hole?

This morning is a lazy day. I’m not going to do much. I have a little laundry that needs to be done. I will catch up on the Sunday morning political shows, Meet the Press, Chris Matthews. I will watch Sunday Morning, a program that John and I enjoyed for many years. The stories are entertaining. I will snack until dinner, when I will boil some pasta. I will finish the book I’m reading. I may work on an outline idea for a training course I’d like to leave behind.

Neil brought some bananas for me today. Two bunches of them. I have over fifteen bananas. I’ll be eating a lot of bananas this week! The children in the neighborhood come over – they will be eating bananas too. I’m surprised I haven’t seen them yet. My house is a gathering place for village children who are bored and looking for someone to talk to.

As I’m doing my laundry I decide to try to put the clothes on the line that hangs over the back balcony. The line is high and a few inches from the railing so it’s difficult for me to reach. I went into the kitchen to retrieve the box of clothes pins that Elizabeth and John left for me to use. As I’m hanging my brown shorts on the line, I see something out of the corner of my eye. It’s moving. It’s in the yard below…and it’s not Spike, the dog. I look closely. There is a hole in the dirt and it went in there. It’s probably a gopher, but I want to confirm it.

Everything stops. I wait. I know the creature will peak through the dirt again. And it does. It’s slowly coming out. I can’t quite make out what it is. It peaks through and then goes back in. I’m patient. Heck, I’m a Peace Corps Volunteer. I have two years. And then it comes through the dirt. First one claw, then another reaches up to pull its red body into full view. I can’t believe it. It’s a five minute walk to the beach. Is this a pet? Can this thing live in this hole? I look outside my windows. I see holes in the banana tree garden next door. Do these creatures live amongst the banana trees too? I run to retrieve my camera. There it is, fully digitized: a crab.Why do you think there is a crab in Elizabeth’s garden? This mystery needs to be solved. I will put this mystery on my agenda for next week.

Singing in the Rain

It’s Thursday, September 18, 2008 and although I have the day off, I went to the school to use the internet and prepare for next weeks class on “Methods and Channels of Business Communications”. It started to rain last night – real rain, not the kind we have in Los Angeles. It hasn’t stopped. The roosters didn’t seem to mind this morning; they went about their job of crowing beginning at 4 a.m., waking everyone in the village as if there were no weather disturbance whatsoever. I’ve become used to them; although I do wish they would wait until 6:00 to start their alarm clocks. The crickets begin their song in early evening and provide a melodic performance all night. They are still singing when the roosters chime in. Around 6 a.m. the crickets silence and the birds chime in, each with it’s own distinctive call. Each creature seemingly knows precisely when to begin their song. Is this a wonder of nature that each cues another?

According to the weather report, rain is to continue through Monday. There are times when I feel like I am acclimating to this country and other times when I feel so “Los Angeles”. Last night was one of those Los Angeles moments. The rain was coming down so hard it woke me up. I listened to it for several minutes and remembered the clothes I had drying on the line on the porch. I got up to retrieve my clothes so they wouldn’t get wet and hung them in front of the fan in my room.

I turned off the light and went back to bed listening to thunder and seeing lightening through the mosquito net around my bed and the thin curtains in my room. At times, I was even frightened. This storm by Los Angeles standards would be the topic of conversation on the news …”Storm Watch 2008 with Dallas Raines. Stay tuned for the live Doppler Radar”. We would be talking about floods and mudslides. There would be more accidents than usual and people would be stranded in flooded areas. This storm would be the number one news topic. It wouldn’t matter if Fanny and Freddie were having a bad day, or that Americans now own a piece of AIG. Barack who? Sara what? It would be a good day to take a “mental health” day. Here, no one says a word – it’s business as usual. No one even commented this morning about the fact that it is raining.

After making a cup of Nescafe, I went to my room, took a shower and dressed. I grabbed my umbrella and began walking through the mud and puddles of water to the Micoud Secondary School. Oh, by the way, those water shoes I was beginning to think were a silly idea – am I ever glad I have them!