Nutritional assay and organoleptic evaluation of the cashew apple in coastal Karnataka

Cashew apple (Anacardium occidentale L) is highly nutritious and rich in sugars, vitamins and minerals and mainly used in the preparation of ‘Feni’, juice, jams, chutney, pickles, candies and other products. The cashew apple has a fair proportion of 50-60% juice, with 10-12% of sugars and 0.3% acidity. The physico-chemical properties showed that the pH of the Cashew apple does not decrease on storage. Cashew apple showed a high content of Ascorbic acid and tannins. Sensory Analysis of the cashew apple product had a very good acceptance by the trained panel. Mineral content in the cashew apple was found to be on the higher range. Cashew apple extract revealed a very good source of Vitamins and Minerals. Key words Cashew apple, Sensory analysis, Ascorbic acid, Tannins, Feni Cashew apple (Anacardium occidentale L) is one of the important horticulture crops of India, which brings high revenue to India. Cashew was introduced to India by the Portuguese travelers in 16th Century for the purpose of aforestation and soil conservation. Though Cashew is native of Brazil, India was the first country in the world to realize the potentiality of the crop and to exploit the international trade of cashew kernel in the early 20th century. Now India has the largest area under cashew and stands as the 2nd leading producer of cashew in the world. The world production figures of this crop cover around 41.47 lakh tones per year from an area of 49.35 hectares. At present Vietnam is the largest producer of cashew nuts, with a production of12.37 tonnes followed by India 7,28lakh tones (2012-13). In 2012-13, India accounted for over 27% world export of cashew kernels worth more than Rs 4067 crores. Cashew apple (Anacardium occidentale L)is highly nutritious and rich in vitamins and minerals. It is the colossal byproduct waste of Cashew kernel. Cashew apple is a rich source of sugars, minerals and vitamins and mainly used in the preparation of ‘Feni’, juice, jams. Chutney, pickles, and other products (Augustin, 1985).The cashew apple is of bright orange or yellow in colour, has fair proportion (50- 60%) of juice with 12% sugar and 0.3 % acidity (Anon1957. Cashew apple is sweet possessing an exotic flavor, pleasant aroma and good color (Shahajahan,1980). Cashewnuts provide around 553 kcals of energy per100gms. They are packed with soluble dietary fibre, vitamins minerals and numerous health promoting phytochemicals that help to protect us from diseases and cancers. Cashew apple is the ‘pseudo apple’ attached to kernel, with the kernel to fruit ratio being 1:5. Annually around 50- 65 lakh tones of apples are produced out of which only 10- 15% goes to ‘Feni’ making, an alcoholic drink in Goa, the rest of them is generally seen to be wasted as a manure to the tree or as cattle feed. A preliminary trial on the organoleptic analysis was conducted on the Asthma subjects, with the age group of 2 to 60 years in Udupi district (Vaidehi, M P. et al). This study gave and initiatio