I knew that the shells of cashews had toxins similiar to poison ivy. What
I didn't know was that cashews have to be blanched or roasted to keep the
nuts from also having those toxins and sometimes cashews aren't properly
blanched and so the toxins remain.

How do I know this?

My poor husband's body is about 80% covered and I mean COVERED by an itchy
red rash that's been driving him CRAZY (very little sleep and struggling
not to scratch, if you've ever had poison ivy then you know what I mean,
only imaging it EVERYWHERE on you, not just in the patches that got
exposed).

It started on Monday and we went to the doctor yesterday, who sent us to
the dermatologist, who figured out it was the spicy cajun cashews we bought
last friday at the food co-op that were the culprit.

So now he's on prednizone and has a cortizone ointment. What's ironic
about this is he doesn't really like cashews that much, he just thought
they were yummy with the spicy cajun stuff on it and got it for the spices.
I'm sure he'll never, ever eat cashews again.

--
Siobhan Perricone
Humans wrote the bible,
God wrote the rocks
-- Word of God by Kathy Mar

"One last thing: Sometimes people who are very sensitive to poison ivy
will also react to mangoes and cashews while they are suffering from
the rash and so they should avoid these foods at that time. In
addition, there are some people who have unexplained food allergies and
react strongly to poison ivy. If this describes you, you should
probably avoid mangoes and cashews at all times. "
-----------------------------
Nancree

Siobhan Perricone wrote:
> I knew that the shells of cashews had toxins similiar to poison ivy. What
> I didn't know was that cashews have to be blanched or roasted to keep the
> nuts from also having those toxins and sometimes cashews aren't properly
> blanched and so the toxins remain.
>
> How do I know this?
>
> My poor husband's body is about 80% covered and I mean COVERED by an itchy
> red rash that's been driving him CRAZY (very little sleep and struggling

Oh man. That'd suck! They're my favorites too! I'll take my chances.
(fingers crossed)


--
Steve

Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it.
Autograph your work with excellence.

"Siobhan Perricone" > wrote:
> I knew that the shells of cashews had toxins similiar to poison ivy. What
> I didn't know was that cashews have to be blanched or roasted to keep the
> nuts from also having those toxins and sometimes cashews aren't properly
> blanched and so the toxins remain.

I knew they had a toxic oil in the shells, but I didn't know it was related
to poison ivy until a couple of months ago. I get really bad reactions to
such stuff.

My parents used to have a cashew tree growing in their back yard (Miami,
FL). The fruit and nut are most interesting compared to normal fruit trees.
The fruit itself looks like an apple, but the pulp is not edible in the same
sense as an apple. You can either chew on the fruit to get the juice out, or
press the fruit to get the juice out. The juice is very good. The pulp is
very coarse and stringy and not to be eaten.

The nut or seed is not inside the fruit, like an apple or peach, but hangs
below the bottom of the fruit. This is the part with the shell containing
the toxic oil. We tried roasting them on a few occassions without any
success. The last time my father attempted it, the oil from the nuts burst
into flame. I'm glad I wasn't there on that occassion, as I am sure the
fumes from this would have given me "poison ivy" all over. My father was not
so sensitive to it.

I've got two cashew plants in my house now growing from seeds off that tree
my parents had. They are a few months old now. My parents tree is gone now,
as it was blown over in one of the hurricanes last fall. I've got a whole
big jar of cashew nuts in the shell... anyone want to try roasting them? ;-)