Cashew nut is made up of a fruit in which the kernel is embedded. The real fruit of the cashew is commonly a nut. It is a kidney- or heart-shaped achene, in any normal variety. Its color varies from bottle green to grayish brown (dried fruit). The kernel is slightly curved back on itself and forms two cotyledons, representing about 20–25% of the nuts weight. It is wrapped in a thin, difficult-to-remove peel (testa), reddish-brown membrane, which in turn approximates 5% of the whole nut. The annual production of cashew nuts (with shells) is the highest of all tree nuts, with a value of more than 3.5 million tons. The cashew kernel is of high food value with about 40–57% oil and 21% protein contents.

Among tree nuts, cashew ranks third in world economic importance after almonds and Brazil nuts (FAO, 2010). Current world production of cashew nut is 3,720,245 MT on 4,097,637 ha. Vietnam, Nigeria, India, Indonesia and Brazil are currently the world’s leading producers of cashew nuts (FAO, 2010).