Cashew Fruit

Cashews are delicious, so is cashew fruit. After posting some pics of cashew fruit last time I made a blog entry I had a few comments about them. I guess a lot of people that live in the U.S. or other places with cooler climates than The Gambia don’t know exactly where cashew nuts come from. I was among this group but shortly after arriving in The Gambia I found the answer to this question I never thought to ask. So it turns out they grow on trees just like money! That in itself is not really that exciting but what is exciting is the fruit that grows on the same trees. This fruit is not technically a fruit from what I read but a large piece of the flower/stem. I have been trying to figure out what these aren’t sold in the U.S. but after some thought and research it seems the answer lies in their short shelf life. The fruit starts to go bad within a day of being picked and the skin is extremely delicate and can be broken by just a little jostling. Luckily for me there are trees all over the place around here and you can by the fruit on the street during the season. Personally my favorite way to enjoy it is to just eat it like an apple. The flesh is squishy and extremely juicy. There are a bunch of other uses for them including juice making, jams, and cashew wine/liquor. This last one is becoming one of my home projects so I’ll let you know how that goes a bit later. I don’t want to leave out the interesting facts about the cashew nut itself either. The nut grows in a encasing that is attached to the bottom of the fruit and hangs down underneath it when they are attached to the tree. When you want to eat the fruit you just twist of the casing and set it aside. I haven’t actually seen the casings being removed but from what I hear it goes something like this. To get the nut out of the case people cook/burn the casing until they can crack it open and take out the nut. The oil from the casing is extremely caustic a will burn the skin if it gets on you so that part has to be handled carefully. Apparently the oil is used in some industrial processes. I think cashew trees along with mango trees have to be at the top of my favorite trees list (no I don’t really have a favorite trees list). Both types of trees provide great fruit with a million uses, both are hardy and grow relatively easily, bees love both of them and make good honey from them, the mango tree is the best shade tree I have ever taken a nap under and the cashew tree’s not that bad either, what other tree provides shade, fruit, and protein all in one. (Challenge…. There must be others I await your comments). I guess that’s about all I will bore you with as far as cashews go. I’m really not as crazy as I sound, just appreciating the simple things.

I realized today that I ride the Ferrari of bicycles in The Gambia. I have a Trek. I have no idea how much is cost because I didn’t buy it, Peace Corps gave it to me. If I had this bike in the states no one would even give it a second look. It’s not a huffy but it’s also no a duel suspension, titanium, disk break, downhill bomber either. By American standards it’s a decent bike for getting around. Here in The Gambia if you own a bike at all that is something of a status symbol. You won’t ever see a shed full of old kids bikes rusting away like you would in the states. Often it’s only the father of the compound that has a bicycle. My host father has a bike which he rides everywhere and the kids are lucky to have one bike which they share between six of them often to run chores for the family. If you have a bike you ride it. If you can’t ride it anymore you sell it just like you would a car in the states because its worth a lot of money. Everywhere I go people are always saying that my bike is very nice, very strong and very fast. I of course realized that I was lucky to have such a nice bike but never really analyzed the situation. Today I was on my way home from the Beekeepers, I was riding through the forest and I flew past an old man on a standard Gambian bike. An old Chinese bike, squeaky, no gears, with a goat strapped to the back. It’s at that moment that I realized how expensive and capable this bike must look. I can cruise along at 20mph without breaking a sweat while this guy busts his butt to coax 10mph out of his bike with twice the effort and he’s still got to listen to that goat. Something like when a guy blows by you on the interstate in a new Ferrari and you wonder that he’s compensating for. Although not a perfect comparison I think it illustrates the point.

I almost forgot. Last weekend Lydia and I road our bikes down to the Kartong Festival. Kartong is a small village on the coast down on the southern border with the Casimance region of Senegal. The festival was pretty cool. At night we would walk down to the village and watch a bunch of music and dance performances. The performers came from all over west Africa. Lots of drumming, some fire dancing, and other interesting stuff. We stayed in a hut on the beach and just relaxed in the day mostly enjoying the nice weather and the strong breeze. One day we road down to the river that marks the boarder and did some exploring in that area. That's the gist of it maybe Lydia will have more to add later.

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That’s it for today. A bit random on the points. Sometimes I just try to come up with a few thoughts or topics and write about them. This is the result. For those of you who are bored by such things, start asking more questions about things that interest you. Until next time…

(Final note: If anyone has a picture of a goat strapped to the back of a Ferrari please email it to me.)