A love affair with cashew

The cashew nut — favoured ghee-tempered ingredient of many an Indian sweet like payasam, barfi and ladoo — isn’t a stranger to long-distance travel. And as we consume it by the tonne as a wholesome snack, ‘mylk’ (a vegan alternative to dairy milk), or as the thickening agent in curries, it’s clear that the cashew doesn’t believe in culinary social distancing either.

This becomes evident after a visit to Karthikeya Agro Processing unit along the Edumalai-Tirupattur road in Manachanallur Taluk, where women employees are working on cashews that will eventually be supplied to sweet shops and retailers in Tiruchi, Salem and Madurai.

Most of the stock at this factory has...read more