September 17, 2020 • 40 mins
This buttery-sweet tree nut makes a tasty snack, milk, or ingredient – but its fruit is poisonous. But but: Its apple is not! Anney and Lauren break down the science and history of the cashew tree, nut, and apple.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hello, and welcome to Favor production of I Heart Radio.
I'm Annie Reese and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and today we're
talking about cash shows. Yes, I love cashews. I it
was notorious for eating all of the cashews out of
nut and shee mixes in my house, Like I would
hear people like and so on Christmas. Eventually, my parents
(00:35):
stopped getting me candy because it became clear that wasn't
really my thing. And I stop reading oranges because like
they would get me one, but I would never eat it.
Kind of just became the family's orange. But they would
get just packs of cashews and almond nuts. Uh wow. Yeah.
I count people who pick specific things out of mixes
(00:56):
as like, like, that's that's like a that's like a
cardon sin in my book. You didn't know I was
this devious. I didn't can. We had to reevaluate our
friendship and all of our past interactions. I'm like, oh no, okay,
I would do that to like your mix, only my
(01:17):
family's mix. Are They screwed me out of a lot
of things, so I think that was fair. Yeah, No,
that's that's I knowing what I know about what little
I know about your family's interactions. I think that anything
that you did to punk them was probably completely fair,
so thank you. Yes. Also, you know there aren't that
many cash us in those there's not. Well, they're expensive, yes,
(01:41):
so it's not like I was getting a whole mound.
I wish I only find like three or four. That's
I do also love a cash you. They're they're they're
they're delicious. What can I say? They are? Yeah, and
I feel knowing what I know about their production, I
(02:02):
now feel a little bit bad about that. So that's cool. Yeah,
a little spoiler for what's to come. You know, I
never buy them for myself, I'll say that, um, because
they are expensive. And also, as you know, Lauren, I'm
not a big snacker. I don't like having too many snacks. Sure, yeah,
(02:22):
they're they're one of the like nuts are the kind
of snack that I do stuck because I know that
I can eat this like relatively tiny handful of things
and uh and it will keep me going for long
enough to like not murder anybody and eat their eyeballs.
So that's good, very powerful. I try, Yes, I try
(02:43):
every day to eat no eyeballs and all right, that's
what I love about you. Yeah, snack nuts help make
it happen. Well, okay, here is a very very very
important question. Is it a nut? Because I've been burned before,
(03:04):
I've been burned? Well, um, you know, I mean, do
you want to go ahead and do the question? Do
I do? All right, let's get it overwhere? What are they? Well?
(03:25):
Cashews are not nuts? Sorry, Oh oh my god, my
whole life has been a lie. How many nuts and
those nut mixes are nuts? That's what I need? I
would have to are any of them nuts? Okay? Okay,
Well this is a this is a different question for
another day. I will have to return to you on
(03:46):
that one. But in the meanwhile, cash shows they're not
technically nuts. Botanically speaking, they are the seeds of the
cashew fruit um. The botanical name there is Antacardium occident hallet.
And okay, so this this fruit that the cashew is
a seed of, grows on these tropical evergreen trees. They
(04:08):
generally only grow about like twenty ft six meters tall,
and their branches can droop to the ground and take
root um, and they grow these these small pretty pink
or white or red flowers and in branching clusters that,
when pollinated, will develop the cashew fruit. And this is
a fascinating thing, um that the true botanical fruit of
(04:30):
the tree that that develops from each pollinated flower is
this inedible greenish brownish grayish oily little like kidney shaped thing.
And and it's a it's a droop like a peach. Okay. So,
so that terrible fruit contains this hard shell, and in
the shell grows the seed, and that seed is the
cash unit. But to sort of make up for the
(04:53):
thing where that actual fruit is not good for eating, um,
the tree also produces what called an accessory fruit um. So,
so part of the stem that connects the flowers to
the trees will co develop along with that bad fruit
into this juicy, sweet, yellow to red accessory fruit um,
(05:14):
with the actual fruit growing out of the bottom end. Yeah.
So like accessory fruit attached to the branch and then
the bad fruits attached to the bottom of that um.
And the accessory fruit is sort of apple or pear
shaped around the same size as an apple or pear,
solid straight through um. In English, they're often referred to
as the cashew apple. Of course, they go by different
names in different languages and the places where they're grown.
(05:37):
And these these are edible and tasty from what I understand. Um.
I've never had one, but I've read that they're sweet
and acidic, with a sort of mild citrus mango fresh
kind of flavor profile. Um. In some places, cashew trees
are grown specifically for production of the successory fruit UM,
which can be eaten raw or cooked or made into
(05:58):
preserves or jam or candies. It can be juiced. The
juice can then be fermented into wines or liquors. Very
useful stuff. But the botanical family that cashews are in
um an A cardiaci a UM. That's the same family
as pistachios, pink peppercorns, mangoes and uh poison ivy oak
(06:19):
and sumac. And here's where things get unpleasant. Um. Yes,
welcome back to Lauren's killjoy corner. Oh yeah. Um, So,
like those poison vines that I just mentioned, the flesh
surrounding a cashew nut, that true fruit contains just a
(06:42):
whole lot of what's called anacartic acid, which is seriously
irritating to humans. Um. So, like to get at that
edible nut, you have to remove this flesh and shell,
both of which are just full of super inedible chemical
irritant um. It can cause severe blistering on your skin
um like lung damage if it gets into the air
(07:03):
and you breathe it in, Like if you pick a
cashew apple that has the true fruit attached. It's recommended
that you use gloves to prevent all contact with the
true fruit, and home growers of cashews are advised to
not attempt to retrieve the cashew nut from the fruit.
Just throw it away, eat the apple part, forget that
the nut ever happened. Um wow. So to to get
(07:28):
at a nut, A cashew fruit is cooked to remove
that that poisonous flesh and um, and also further to
to make the shell brittle enough to to easily crack.
And you can do this in a pan or a pot,
or in a roasting drum or like a hot oil bath,
and a drum or hot oil bath is convenient because
it pulls the irritants away and can like output them
(07:49):
as either a liquid or a gas. The more traditional
pan or pot roasting methods require you to um to
somehow manually remove that irritant filled flesh. Um. Once you
do that, though you're You're left with a nut and
shell that's pretty easily cracked, and you pull out the
cashew kernel, peel off this little protective skin that's around it,
(08:11):
and then you have a cash you nut, a little
white kidney shaped thing. I don't know about the size
of a joint of a finger. So um, sweet, tasty, delicious.
But you know, the kill joy part and all of
that is that you know this is a labor intensive
and hazardous process, and it is often done by hand,
(08:32):
with varying levels of safety precautions, by severely underpaid people
in developing parts of the world. All that said, conditions
are kind of beginning to improve. Um, I'm not going
to say that you should feel awful about eating cash shows,
but you might go ahead and feel a little bit bad.
(08:56):
But uh, all all that being said, I mean cash
you plants are pretty cool, wool like because of the
way that a cashew trees roots spread and those branches
can drop and take root. They're really useful for promoting
soil conservation and forestation. That the leaves in the bark
contain tannins that are good for tanning and for dyeing.
The apples can also be used for dye the bark
(09:17):
contains a gum that sometimes used as insect repellent. The
wood itself is useful for building stuff. Aside from the
part where they're kind of poisonous, they're great. Aside from that,
yeah a good yeah yeah yeah, well all right, Aside
(09:43):
from that, how about the nutrition? Cashews are pretty good
for you. Um. They do contain more saturated fats than
most other tree nuts, along with the unsaturated fats that
things like like almonds are latted for. Um. So, so
the traditional recommendation has been more to go for something
(10:04):
with more unsaturated fats, like like almonds than for something
like cash shows. Uh. More on that in a second.
The cashews are also a great source of vitamins and minerals. Um.
They've got a good punch of protein, a little bit
of carbs and dietary fiber. You know, like they will
fill you up and they will help keep you going.
They are colorically dense food. So if that's something that
you're watching out for, watch out for that. You know.
(10:25):
I'll always watch your portion sizes. I will say cash
you milk is lower in calories and also lower in
protein than dairy milk and most other dairy milk alternatives. So. UM.
So if you are looking, if if you you know,
compare your nutrition labels, just see figure out what you're
trying to get out of whatever it is that you're buying,
(10:46):
read the label. Um. Yeah. Preliminary research though, going back
to that saturated versus unsaturated fat issue, UM, research has
shown that cashows can actually help lower cholesterol levels despite
that sad tread fat that they contain, because of some
of the types of saturated fat that they contain. Um. So,
(11:06):
especially if you are using them to replace other um,
saturated fatty stuff in your diet, like say potato chips.
Um Yeah, they can help you lower your cholesterol levels overall. Um.
That apple is high in vitamin C, does pack a
lot of sugar. Um. But you know, uh, it's a fruit,
that's what it does sort of. Um. And Traditionally, various
(11:30):
parts of the cashew plant have been used to treat
conditions from toothaches to diabetes basically everywhere that they have
been grown. Um. And we've got more on some recent
research in our history section. But but that brings us
to some cashew numbers. Yes, cashing in on the cashe
you because the cash you market was valued at seven
(11:53):
point eight billion dollars with a predicted annual growth well fifteen. Who. Yeah. Yeah.
Global production as of twenty sixteen was four point eight
nine million tons. Wow, and the cashew accounts for UM.
I think it's the third most popular tree nut in
(12:15):
the world, accounting for of the international tree nut trade. Wow.
According to data, Vietnam was the top producer with eight
hundred and sixty three thousand and sixty tons, followed by India,
Co Duvoir and the Philippines. Data found India is responsible
(12:35):
for sixt of global cash exports. Yeah. So cashew processing
is complex, like even though India does not grow the most,
it does process the most and it and it grows
a lot um some seven hundred thousand metric tons as often,
but it imports even more on top of that to process.
And cashews are a major part of India's economy. Um,
(12:57):
it's in the top four of their agricultural exports, right
up there with up as matti, rice and spices and
tea and upwards of one point two million people. As
of I think twenty fourteen, we're working in the cashew
industry there and nine of the world's cash shows are
consumed in the US. I know, I just from a Yeah,
(13:21):
that's a lot. It's a lot. Uh and oh I
learned about this cash you chicken, So I love. I
love a good cashew and like noodle dishes. Um, but
I've never heard of this. So this is a mixture
of chunks of fried chicken smothered in a sauce made
up of oyster sauce, soy sauce, and stock that has
then topped with green onions and have cashews. And it
(13:42):
is served at seventy over seventy restaurants in Springfield, Missouri
as of two thousand nine. And it served in what
it's called Springfield style. Okay, see, I didn't look this up.
I've had cashew chicken before from like you know, like
Chinese American takeout places. Um. But but I've never had
it with deep fried chicken. I've only ever had it
(14:03):
with the sauteid chicken. So yes, um, okay. So I
found there are a couple of articles about this, or
there is the same article publish in a couple of
different places. But the article was I found in the
New York Times was written by John T. Edge, who
superproducer Dylan and I met at a Southern Food Alliance
conference and okay, so they were they were these two
(14:23):
cocktails you could get, and one of them came with
a temporary tattoo of his face. Um, which he didn't
have anything to do with the making up, by the way,
somebody was a joke someone else was doing. But I'm
still waiting for the right opportunity to use it. I
have it still, yeah, and I'm like, oh, I've got
to put on this random temporary tattoo of some guy
(14:45):
that most people won't recognize and scare my family. Yeah,
maybe like April Fools opportunity or something like that. Yeah, yeah,
oh boy, it's gonna be great. Also, the guy behind
Cash You Chicken in Springfield, David Young, Um he what
(15:07):
did he call it? He called it like the Missouri
version of like a meat and three, Well, like the
Chinese Missouri melding of a meeting three, which I loved,
but there's fried rice instead of mashetato, as he said. Um.
So he worked at a Pincacola restaurant called Pirates Cove
that I used to frequent And there's a similarly named
restaurant in Josephine, Alabama that I absolutely adore, so I appreciate. Well,
(15:29):
there we go. Yea. So those are some numbers, but
we do have some history for it, oh gosh, we do. Um.
But first we've got a quick break for a word
from our sponsor and we're back. Thank you, sponsors, Yes,
(15:51):
thank you. So cash u's originated in Brazil and also
perhaps Central America, the West Indies, Peru a Guiana. I
couldn't really find a date for when they originated, but
I'm assuming they're old. Yeah, I think. I think the
date that I saw what was that the plant itself
(16:16):
developed some some number of millions of years ago, like
like like forty five million years ago or something. And
I the traditional answer is that they are from what
is now Brazil. Um. But but there's been some argument
in in some academic research about it about um, you know,
(16:38):
plants that very much resemble cashew is being depicted in
artwork from uh other areas. So it's it's hard to say.
It is hard to say. Uh. Most of the history
you find starts around the sixteenth century, when Portuguese traders
(16:58):
transported the cash you to Mozambi week and along the
coast of India. But more for that whole soil retention
and erosion prevention thing as opposed to a food stuff thing.
Uh and yeah. In these trees they grew rapidly and wildly.
They formed forests, They hopped to nearby islands. They went
up into East Africa and Choppolal regions in South America,
(17:18):
Central America and the West Indies. Eventually it spread from
India to China, to the Philippines, Malaysia and South Asia
in general. Um and pretty early on, Indian confectioners started
incorporating cashews into their desserts, often to replace the more
expensive at the time almonds. Yes. In fifty eight see
(17:39):
Jesuit missionary A Costa wrote about cashews quote found in
the gardens at the city of Santa Cruz in the
Kingdom of Coaching. Jesuit priests in Goa used the cashew
fruit to distill a very strong and stronomly flavored drink
called fenny. At least I think that's how you pronounce
it's I looked it up, but if anyone has a
better pronunciation, you can always send it our way. Um.
(18:00):
A sixteenth century Italian traveler wrote about fending that it
will quote affect a man's head merely by smelling it,
to say nothing of drinking it. The cashew tree was
introduced to Vietnam in the nineteenth century, originally as a
shade tree. When World War Two shut down shipping to India,
a cash you processing industry and Mozambique was born. Because
(18:23):
they've been there, but they hadn't really been processed for
industrially commercially. For a while, Mozambique was the top ex
quarter in nineteen seventy two. At its peak, Mozambique was
producing two sixteen thousand tons. Much of the labor was
done by women, and to this day their studies into
the impact of the cashew industry and women's economic mobility. However,
(18:45):
with independence in nineteen seventy five, these high levels of
production in Mozambique could not be maintained. The value of
cash you nuts shipped to the United States in night
was fifty two million, five eight thousand dollars. Yeah. Commercial
cash you cultivation began in India in the nineteen sixties.
(19:06):
That same decade, cash of trees from India were introduced
to West Africa to combat desertification. Until nineteen seventy two,
the apple was the main focus in Mozambique, and that
changed when people in industry started investigating the potential economic
liability of the two million tons of extra juice answer
from cash you processing Vietnam. I'm recognized cash you as
(19:30):
a commercial crop in nineteen nine. Uh yeah. Through Throughout
the eighties and into the nineties, the market for cash
us became such that these small farmers across West Africa
and India and out into Southeast Asia UM started replacing
their food crops with this cash crop. And this is
a this is a really complex and tricky issue because
(19:54):
you know, like like it's really helping fight poverty in
these places by by giving them this this good economic
crop to participate in the growth of UM. But in
a perfect world, UM, you know, despite fighting poverty, there's
still high levels of malnutrition in these areas. So in
a perfect world, there would be a balance at any
giving farming area between producing crops for sale and producing
(20:17):
nutritious food for the people who live and work there.
UM or at the very least, like the money that
they get from these cash crops would enable them to
buy good food through like a stable infrastructure of markets. UM.
But we're not quite there yet. UM. The majority of
cash you farms are small and family operated, like a
few acres um, and they will sell or trade their
(20:38):
crops um to or through larger organizations, which generally then
sell the fruit to separate processors, which generally then sell
the nuts to separate factory packagers. So like by the
time you buy a cash you a single cash you
nut at retail um, that the premium price that you're
(20:59):
paying for it um is just trickling down through these layers,
and as it is so often the case with laborious
products like that, like the people doing the hardest work
are receiving the least amount of money for it um.
And that's the thing that that a number of international
organizations are working on. But I would say that you know,
(21:20):
if you are a concerned consumer, and I certainly hope
that everyone listening to this, is that if you if
cash us are a thing that you purchase, that you
you look for labeling um uh. You know, just just
investigate the products that you buy and uh and look
for labeling with stuff like a like like fair trade
on there. Very frequently the label organic can kind of
(21:41):
stand in for products that were produced in a more
ethical way. But you sort of have to research um
product product in order to sess that out. And it's, uh,
it's time consuming and I and I know that it's
it's hard to eke out time to to to to
do anything like that, but but it can really help
make a difference in people's lives. So yeah, absolutely. Uh.
(22:05):
In two thousand nine, of Finny from Goa became the
first alcoholic beverage from India to receive a Global Geographical
Indication registration, meaning the real deal can only have come
from go Up Love it. Yes. Cash use had a
viral moment in twenty nineteen when the Internet at large
(22:26):
freaked out about how cash yous grew and all these
like it looks like an old man yelling at children.
All yeah, yeah, I mean look entirely. I had no idea.
I'm shocked. Yeah yeah. Oh if you if you, as
you're listening to this, I haven't seen this picture. And
there's one in particular that went really viral and you're
(22:47):
listening to Lauren describe it and you're like, wait, what
go look it up. It does not look like you
think you, I promise you. Yeah. It's like someone like
like pasted like a big green cash you onto the
end of an apple pear, and or it looks like
a like a weirdly misshapen bell pepper, maybe like with
(23:09):
a stem. And that's the cashew fruit. It's on the Yeah,
that's on the bottom. Yeah, I don't know. Nature, nature y'all,
nature y'all. Uh. Recently there has been a trend of
plant based milks and and other dairy products like cheese.
Is I know a couple of you've written in about
(23:31):
milk free. The terminology gets talked about in our meat
alternative milk alternative, uh, products like cheese, and yes, there's
cashe milk, and sometimes it's blended with other things like almonds.
Certainly something we'll have to return to for another episode.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Nut milks and et cetera are
(23:53):
for sure a different product for a different day. Um.
You can get into a little bit of that in
our area. You can get into a little bit of
that in our Tofu episode. Um. But who yeah, Okay,
that was that was not you have to you have
(24:14):
to stop the research. You have to put it down
at some point. Um. But but speaking of actual research,
not colloquial research, the way that I was just using
the word UM actual scientific research. There's been a lot
of recently into how to use other parts of the
cashew plant UM, and particularly that nasty stuff from from
(24:36):
the fruit and the shells. UM. The the liquid that
you obtain is a byproduct during cashew processing. UM. It's
called a cashew nut shell liquid or CNSL in the industry,
and it's pretty cool because UM, despite being this poisonous
waste product, or in fact, because of it being this
poisonous waste product, UM, finding ways to make use of
(24:57):
it is super helpful to the people who grow and
process cashews and also to the environment. And it's fascinating
stuff Like there are compounds in it that researchers have
found to be good absorbers of ultra violet lights UM,
u v A and UVB, which means that these compounds
could be put to use in creating sunscreens for for
(25:18):
humans and livestock, or could even be incorporated into UM
like polymers and coatings that lend, you know, like non
living objects resistance to sun damage. Also that that main
caustic acid in the cashew fruit UM, anacartic acid, has
some antimicrobial properties UM and is being investigated for everything
from like acne control to prevention of tooth decay and uh,
(25:43):
there's some preliminary research going into how antacartic acid might
be used to help treat some conditions that involve nerve
damage um, like like specifically conditions where the myelin, that
the protective sheath that surrounds our nerves UM, where that
milin gets damaged, things like multiple sclerosis. Because it turns
(26:04):
out that antarcartic acid it inhibits this this one enzyme
and inhibiting that induces production of this protein that induces
the formation a milin. So yeah, it's all it's all
like in vitro and in vivo animal studies right now.
But um but maybe in the future that could that
could be super awesome. Yeah, very cool. And that's that's
(26:30):
about what we have to say with the cash. You
have to say, this one was a very surprising one.
I did not know that they looks that way. I
know that they were poisonous. I did not know any
of this about them. I am so glad to it's
so glad to learn it's I when I started, when
I did like my preliminary google, I was like, oh no, oh,
this has to be an episode that we record on
(26:51):
a Tuesday, because I need a good lead up for
this one. I need to sit with this one for sure.
Yeah yeah, Um, well we do have a little bit
more for you listeners. We do. We We've got about
some listener mail and also a couple of just like
catchup points that Annie and I not points about actual
(27:13):
catchup that I'm aware of, but but a couple other
discussion points um, and we will get into those as
soon as we get back from one more quick break
for a word from our sponsor, and we're back. Thank
(27:34):
you sponsors, Yes, thank you, yes, so for our quick
catch up non catch up related catchup points. Um for
the first one. A lot of you have written in
about this. Soon after are Boxed Wine episode came out,
Franzia debuted a boxed wine backpack. Uh. Now I investigated
(27:56):
as a good food podcast do yeah. Uh. From what
I can understand, it's sort of a crafting project. Oh like,
it doesn't come in backpack form. It comes in box
form with straps and then instructions how to make the
backpack should you desire, which I'm assuming if you bomp
this you do you do? Probably yes, So innovations happening ongoing.
(28:24):
Also very excited for future listener mail about Australia's drinking
game called Goon of Fortune Fortune. Yes, a lot of
you have written in about it, and you've also alerted
me to what I have never foolishly never thought I
could do, which is used the bag the bladder. Do
(28:45):
you blow it up and make a pillow or a
foot rest? I never ever thought of that? Huh. Yes, yes,
So thanks to everybody who alerted us to this very
important updated news and breaking news. Yeah. Category of innovation
of how to do with with bag in box wine bags? Yes,
(29:07):
And also in the innovation world of wine, Taco Bell
in Canada has recently debuted a wine called Jalapeno Noir
and it's also available for delivery. What is it? It's
from Chalupa Estates. It's cheese, cheesy Chaloopa Estates. I believe
(29:27):
the estate from which this wine hypothetically comes from. Um.
And I am so madd Canada for having this product. Um.
I cannot. I just don't understand the good fortune of
your country. Yeah, I mean not only that you can
(29:48):
get it delivered, that's wild, Oh my gosh right. Yeah,
and it's from what we can tell no howapenos were
harmed in the making of this wine. Um, it's it's
just a it's a pino noir, so it's like a
pun halapo. This guy, I believe the tasting notes it
was cherry and beat root, strawberry, cherry and beat I
(30:09):
think yes. And they do recommend you have it, you
enjoy it with their cholupa because that chalupa has a
six months aged cheddar right, clearly, clearly, But I'm sure
they won't judge if you enjoy it with something else. Yeah,
if anyone has experienced the hypothetical joy that is hal
(30:30):
Apon noir from Taco bell Um, please right in and
let us know. Um, if you want to smuggle some
over country lines and get it to us, I'm not
going to tell you not to. Oh yeah, and if
you have any Taco Bell connects, look super producer dealon
is a big fan. Yeah, where you know, you know
(30:53):
where it finds you do you do like hey, like
Taco Bell if you are listening, like get in touch
like u um uh. And our third catchup update uh
catch up non catch up update um is just something
that we kind of wanted to mention because Okay, so
(31:15):
some of you savvy listeners out there may have heard
some of the news around um, around j K. Rowling
and this strong position that she has come out with
about being kind of solidly anti trans and at the
very least very disparaging of the concept that a trans
woman is really a woman. Um and up to and
(31:35):
including the part like this. This made huge waves back
in June when the world was on extra on fire
and she was just ranting at people on Twitter about
how they're not women and to sit down. Um and
then uh, and then the news came out yesterday. Was
it only yesterday? The internet moved so quickly, um that
her her upcoming novel is about a serial killer who
(31:59):
dresses who assist dude who dresses up as a woman
in order to do his serial killing and uh and
and Annie and I have come out as being such
huge Harry Potter nerds on this show, like we did
an episode about butter beer, like we reran it and
we're excited about it, like like I mean, like we
have whole arguments about like what house each of us
(32:21):
are in, and and uh and so I thought it
was really important to just to just say that trans
rights are human rights, and um, trans women are women
and trans men are men, and uh and if I can,
if I can go on like a mild like this
is so not food related, but like it's it's just
like just a really basic primer of a thing that
(32:41):
I think that a lot of people get confused about
in terms of this issue. This is like way more
stuff Mom never told you, kind of material. But um,
but so okay, like when I when I say that
trans women are women and trans men are men, by that,
I mean that the term sex and the term gender
are two separate terms, okay, And so uh, sex are
(33:02):
the biological and genetic uh traits that you have when
you are born, and male and female are the two
most common sexes. There's a bunch of other combinations that
that um, that your chromosomes can wind up giving you
and there's so so you know, so it's not binary.
And then gender is the societal construct that we have.
(33:25):
And the two most common genders perhaps are woman and man.
But you're not born a woman, you're not born a man.
You're born male or female or etcetera. And so uh
so what you decide to identify as when you grow
up can be woman or man or anything. And it
(33:46):
doesn't have necessarily anything to do with the sex that
you are assigned at birth. Um. So you know, uh,
and and there's there's, of course a lot of other
complicating factors. That's a very high level overview of what
the issue is. But um, you know, just uh if
if anyone else out there is kind of like low
(34:07):
key and mourning about um about J. K Rowling's bigotry. Um,
and you know, because maybe, like you, you have felt
like an outsider at some point in your life and
you found solace or hope in the Harry Potter stories
or Harry Potter fandom and you feel like that's kind
of ruined now. UM, I'm right there with you. UM.
(34:27):
But you know, especially gosh, especially if you're trans. Um,
I just want, I just want to say, like you are,
maybe not by J. K Rowling, but like you are,
you are seen, and you are valued and loved and
so brilliant and just never never forget that. Please. Yeah.
I couldn't have said it better myself, Lauria. No, yeah,
(34:50):
Lauren's rant corner. Thank you for letting me do that, Yes,
thank you. Um. And we do have some listener mail.
We do oh do we have a do we have a? Oh? Yeah,
I've already thought of it. Okay, okay, this is a
tricky one though. All right, all right, I'm ready and
we have some ko I've reached new levels more and
(35:24):
I can't be stopped. Pipino noir latch something in me.
Oh heck, well, um, you have much to fear in
the future. I quake. I quake in my podcasting boots,
which are at this point my bare feet, So megan ute.
(35:49):
While I have been aware of molecular astronomy for a while,
I didn't realize that it was a field introduced by
a physicist. I'm a physicist, and now I'm a little sad.
But no one told me I could study food for
my pH d. That would have been awesome. I study
black holes instead. So it's still pretty fun, but it's
not figuring out how to improve cheap whiskey. On the
(36:09):
bright side, physics departments do a lot of casual molecular gastronomy,
since we love liquid nitrogen LLEN two and have plenty
on hand. I frozen grapes and fun sized candy bars
and classes and made lots and lots of liquid nitrogen
ice cream. In grad school, I worked at a summer
camp where we could make individual servings of it by
portioning out the ice cream mix into small cups and
(36:31):
having the attendees stir as we poured the Ellen two
into the cup. While this lets everyone experience the billowing
cloud from the Ellen too hitting the ice cream based
in the bottom, it doesn't usually lead to a good
texture ice cream. If you don't stir fast enough or
pour on too much Ellen too, you get a layer
of nearly impenetrable ice cream with liquid below. If you
don't add enough ellen too, it doesn't freeze. Making a
(36:54):
big batch leads too much better results. Physicists, or at
least my friends, are also big fans of souve eating,
probably because we appreciate the accuracy you can get from
an immersion circulator and maybe all the tables that Kneel
Lopez includes and his recipe descriptions. My husband and I
use ours at least once a week, which has the
added benefit of weekly seasoning of our cast aron skillet,
(37:17):
which is in fantastic shape now. It's also great for
making yogurt bacterio, which I do less often than I
mean too, but it makes me very proud of myself
when I do it. Fermenting is also very popular among physicists,
from yogurt to sour dough to beer, so much homebrewing
(37:37):
and beyond. In fact, I've been joking with some students
in my department that we need a physics fermenters pH instead. Yes, colub,
because so many of us have sour dough starters right now. Yes,
you should have a fermenters club. Oh, all of that
is so glorious. I you study black holes, I know, great,
(38:01):
I know, I love this. I would have loved to
have been a part of all those physics. The intersection
of physics and food is right up both of our alleys.
Is amazing, this really is. Oh that that makes me.
That makes me really really happy. Um oh gosh, food
brings everyone together. M hm ha. Chris wrote when Lauren
(38:24):
was talking about the pronunciation of Annis, it reminded me
of a hilarious story from when I was little. My
mom made Anna's cookies and my grandma loved them. She
pronounced them anus cookies. Some Christmas time, my mom got
a cookie tin and made a ton of Annas cookies
in the shape of little butts and labeled them Anus
cookies and gave them to my grandma as a gift.
(38:47):
My grandma was horrified when she opened them and put
two and two together. It was very funny to everyone else. Okay,
your mom sounds excellent. That is hilarious the best. Just also,
little butt cookies would be so cute. I know I
(39:11):
kind out to see a picture, right. Oh gosh, um
these are two. Every every single piece of listener mail
that we receive is amazing, and these are just just amazing.
Thank you, yes, yes, yes, we have so much a
listener mail to share with you all in the future.
(39:32):
Thanks to both of them for writing. If you would
like to send us a mail, you can. Our email
is hello at savor pod dot com. We're also on
social media. You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, and
Facebook at savor pod, and we do hope to hear
from you. Savor is production of I Heart Radio. For
more podcasts to my heart Radio, you can visit the
I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
(39:54):
to your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our superproducers
Dylan Fagin and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening,
and we hope that lots more good things are coming
your way. H
Hello, and welcome to Favor production of I Heart Radio.
I'm Annie Reese and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and today we're
talking about cash shows. Yes, I love cashews. I it
was notorious for eating all of the cashews out of
nut and shee mixes in my house, Like I would
hear people like and so on Christmas. Eventually, my parents
(00:35):
stopped getting me candy because it became clear that wasn't
really my thing. And I stop reading oranges because like
they would get me one, but I would never eat it.
Kind of just became the family's orange. But they would
get just packs of cashews and almond nuts. Uh wow. Yeah.
I count people who pick specific things out of mixes
(00:56):
as like, like, that's that's like a that's like a
cardon sin in my book. You didn't know I was
this devious. I didn't can. We had to reevaluate our
friendship and all of our past interactions. I'm like, oh no, okay,
I would do that to like your mix, only my
(01:17):
family's mix. Are They screwed me out of a lot
of things, so I think that was fair. Yeah, No,
that's that's I knowing what I know about what little
I know about your family's interactions. I think that anything
that you did to punk them was probably completely fair,
so thank you. Yes. Also, you know there aren't that
many cash us in those there's not. Well, they're expensive, yes,
(01:41):
so it's not like I was getting a whole mound.
I wish I only find like three or four. That's
I do also love a cash you. They're they're they're
they're delicious. What can I say? They are? Yeah, and
I feel knowing what I know about their production, I
(02:02):
now feel a little bit bad about that. So that's cool. Yeah,
a little spoiler for what's to come. You know, I
never buy them for myself, I'll say that, um, because
they are expensive. And also, as you know, Lauren, I'm
not a big snacker. I don't like having too many snacks. Sure, yeah,
(02:22):
they're they're one of the like nuts are the kind
of snack that I do stuck because I know that
I can eat this like relatively tiny handful of things
and uh and it will keep me going for long
enough to like not murder anybody and eat their eyeballs.
So that's good, very powerful. I try, Yes, I try
(02:43):
every day to eat no eyeballs and all right, that's
what I love about you. Yeah, snack nuts help make
it happen. Well, okay, here is a very very very
important question. Is it a nut? Because I've been burned before,
(03:04):
I've been burned? Well, um, you know, I mean, do
you want to go ahead and do the question? Do
I do? All right, let's get it overwhere? What are they? Well?
(03:25):
Cashews are not nuts? Sorry, Oh oh my god, my
whole life has been a lie. How many nuts and
those nut mixes are nuts? That's what I need? I
would have to are any of them nuts? Okay? Okay,
Well this is a this is a different question for
another day. I will have to return to you on
(03:46):
that one. But in the meanwhile, cash shows they're not
technically nuts. Botanically speaking, they are the seeds of the
cashew fruit um. The botanical name there is Antacardium occident hallet.
And okay, so this this fruit that the cashew is
a seed of, grows on these tropical evergreen trees. They
(04:08):
generally only grow about like twenty ft six meters tall,
and their branches can droop to the ground and take
root um, and they grow these these small pretty pink
or white or red flowers and in branching clusters that,
when pollinated, will develop the cashew fruit. And this is
a fascinating thing, um that the true botanical fruit of
(04:30):
the tree that that develops from each pollinated flower is
this inedible greenish brownish grayish oily little like kidney shaped thing.
And and it's a it's a droop like a peach. Okay. So,
so that terrible fruit contains this hard shell, and in
the shell grows the seed, and that seed is the
cash unit. But to sort of make up for the
(04:53):
thing where that actual fruit is not good for eating, um,
the tree also produces what called an accessory fruit um. So,
so part of the stem that connects the flowers to
the trees will co develop along with that bad fruit
into this juicy, sweet, yellow to red accessory fruit um,
(05:14):
with the actual fruit growing out of the bottom end. Yeah.
So like accessory fruit attached to the branch and then
the bad fruits attached to the bottom of that um.
And the accessory fruit is sort of apple or pear
shaped around the same size as an apple or pear,
solid straight through um. In English, they're often referred to
as the cashew apple. Of course, they go by different
names in different languages and the places where they're grown.
(05:37):
And these these are edible and tasty from what I understand. Um.
I've never had one, but I've read that they're sweet
and acidic, with a sort of mild citrus mango fresh
kind of flavor profile. Um. In some places, cashew trees
are grown specifically for production of the successory fruit UM,
which can be eaten raw or cooked or made into
(05:58):
preserves or jam or candies. It can be juiced. The
juice can then be fermented into wines or liquors. Very
useful stuff. But the botanical family that cashews are in
um an A cardiaci a UM. That's the same family
as pistachios, pink peppercorns, mangoes and uh poison ivy oak
(06:19):
and sumac. And here's where things get unpleasant. Um. Yes,
welcome back to Lauren's killjoy corner. Oh yeah. Um, So,
like those poison vines that I just mentioned, the flesh
surrounding a cashew nut, that true fruit contains just a
(06:42):
whole lot of what's called anacartic acid, which is seriously
irritating to humans. Um. So, like to get at that
edible nut, you have to remove this flesh and shell,
both of which are just full of super inedible chemical
irritant um. It can cause severe blistering on your skin
um like lung damage if it gets into the air
(07:03):
and you breathe it in, Like if you pick a
cashew apple that has the true fruit attached. It's recommended
that you use gloves to prevent all contact with the
true fruit, and home growers of cashews are advised to
not attempt to retrieve the cashew nut from the fruit.
Just throw it away, eat the apple part, forget that
the nut ever happened. Um wow. So to to get
(07:28):
at a nut, A cashew fruit is cooked to remove
that that poisonous flesh and um, and also further to
to make the shell brittle enough to to easily crack.
And you can do this in a pan or a pot,
or in a roasting drum or like a hot oil bath,
and a drum or hot oil bath is convenient because
it pulls the irritants away and can like output them
(07:49):
as either a liquid or a gas. The more traditional
pan or pot roasting methods require you to um to
somehow manually remove that irritant filled flesh. Um. Once you
do that, though you're You're left with a nut and
shell that's pretty easily cracked, and you pull out the
cashew kernel, peel off this little protective skin that's around it,
(08:11):
and then you have a cash you nut, a little
white kidney shaped thing. I don't know about the size
of a joint of a finger. So um, sweet, tasty, delicious.
But you know, the kill joy part and all of
that is that you know this is a labor intensive
and hazardous process, and it is often done by hand,
(08:32):
with varying levels of safety precautions, by severely underpaid people
in developing parts of the world. All that said, conditions
are kind of beginning to improve. Um, I'm not going
to say that you should feel awful about eating cash shows,
but you might go ahead and feel a little bit bad.
(08:56):
But uh, all all that being said, I mean cash
you plants are pretty cool, wool like because of the
way that a cashew trees roots spread and those branches
can drop and take root. They're really useful for promoting
soil conservation and forestation. That the leaves in the bark
contain tannins that are good for tanning and for dyeing.
The apples can also be used for dye the bark
(09:17):
contains a gum that sometimes used as insect repellent. The
wood itself is useful for building stuff. Aside from the
part where they're kind of poisonous, they're great. Aside from that,
yeah a good yeah yeah yeah, well all right, Aside
(09:43):
from that, how about the nutrition? Cashews are pretty good
for you. Um. They do contain more saturated fats than
most other tree nuts, along with the unsaturated fats that
things like like almonds are latted for. Um. So, so
the traditional recommendation has been more to go for something
(10:04):
with more unsaturated fats, like like almonds than for something
like cash shows. Uh. More on that in a second.
The cashews are also a great source of vitamins and minerals. Um.
They've got a good punch of protein, a little bit
of carbs and dietary fiber. You know, like they will
fill you up and they will help keep you going.
They are colorically dense food. So if that's something that
you're watching out for, watch out for that. You know.
(10:25):
I'll always watch your portion sizes. I will say cash
you milk is lower in calories and also lower in
protein than dairy milk and most other dairy milk alternatives. So. UM.
So if you are looking, if if you you know,
compare your nutrition labels, just see figure out what you're
trying to get out of whatever it is that you're buying,
(10:46):
read the label. Um. Yeah. Preliminary research though, going back
to that saturated versus unsaturated fat issue, UM, research has
shown that cashows can actually help lower cholesterol levels despite
that sad tread fat that they contain, because of some
of the types of saturated fat that they contain. Um. So,
(11:06):
especially if you are using them to replace other um,
saturated fatty stuff in your diet, like say potato chips.
Um Yeah, they can help you lower your cholesterol levels overall. Um.
That apple is high in vitamin C, does pack a
lot of sugar. Um. But you know, uh, it's a fruit,
that's what it does sort of. Um. And Traditionally, various
(11:30):
parts of the cashew plant have been used to treat
conditions from toothaches to diabetes basically everywhere that they have
been grown. Um. And we've got more on some recent
research in our history section. But but that brings us
to some cashew numbers. Yes, cashing in on the cashe
you because the cash you market was valued at seven
(11:53):
point eight billion dollars with a predicted annual growth well fifteen. Who. Yeah. Yeah.
Global production as of twenty sixteen was four point eight
nine million tons. Wow, and the cashew accounts for UM.
I think it's the third most popular tree nut in
(12:15):
the world, accounting for of the international tree nut trade. Wow.
According to data, Vietnam was the top producer with eight
hundred and sixty three thousand and sixty tons, followed by India,
Co Duvoir and the Philippines. Data found India is responsible
(12:35):
for sixt of global cash exports. Yeah. So cashew processing
is complex, like even though India does not grow the most,
it does process the most and it and it grows
a lot um some seven hundred thousand metric tons as often,
but it imports even more on top of that to process.
And cashews are a major part of India's economy. Um,
(12:57):
it's in the top four of their agricultural exports, right
up there with up as matti, rice and spices and
tea and upwards of one point two million people. As
of I think twenty fourteen, we're working in the cashew
industry there and nine of the world's cash shows are
consumed in the US. I know, I just from a Yeah,
(13:21):
that's a lot. It's a lot. Uh and oh I
learned about this cash you chicken, So I love. I
love a good cashew and like noodle dishes. Um, but
I've never heard of this. So this is a mixture
of chunks of fried chicken smothered in a sauce made
up of oyster sauce, soy sauce, and stock that has
then topped with green onions and have cashews. And it
(13:42):
is served at seventy over seventy restaurants in Springfield, Missouri
as of two thousand nine. And it served in what
it's called Springfield style. Okay, see, I didn't look this up.
I've had cashew chicken before from like you know, like
Chinese American takeout places. Um. But but I've never had
it with deep fried chicken. I've only ever had it
(14:03):
with the sauteid chicken. So yes, um, okay. So I
found there are a couple of articles about this, or
there is the same article publish in a couple of
different places. But the article was I found in the
New York Times was written by John T. Edge, who
superproducer Dylan and I met at a Southern Food Alliance
conference and okay, so they were they were these two
(14:23):
cocktails you could get, and one of them came with
a temporary tattoo of his face. Um, which he didn't
have anything to do with the making up, by the way,
somebody was a joke someone else was doing. But I'm
still waiting for the right opportunity to use it. I
have it still, yeah, and I'm like, oh, I've got
to put on this random temporary tattoo of some guy
(14:45):
that most people won't recognize and scare my family. Yeah,
maybe like April Fools opportunity or something like that. Yeah, yeah,
oh boy, it's gonna be great. Also, the guy behind
Cash You Chicken in Springfield, David Young, Um he what
(15:07):
did he call it? He called it like the Missouri
version of like a meat and three, Well, like the
Chinese Missouri melding of a meeting three, which I loved,
but there's fried rice instead of mashetato, as he said. Um.
So he worked at a Pincacola restaurant called Pirates Cove
that I used to frequent And there's a similarly named
restaurant in Josephine, Alabama that I absolutely adore, so I appreciate. Well,
(15:29):
there we go. Yea. So those are some numbers, but
we do have some history for it, oh gosh, we do. Um.
But first we've got a quick break for a word
from our sponsor and we're back. Thank you, sponsors, Yes,
(15:51):
thank you. So cash u's originated in Brazil and also
perhaps Central America, the West Indies, Peru a Guiana. I
couldn't really find a date for when they originated, but
I'm assuming they're old. Yeah, I think. I think the
date that I saw what was that the plant itself
(16:16):
developed some some number of millions of years ago, like
like like forty five million years ago or something. And
I the traditional answer is that they are from what
is now Brazil. Um. But but there's been some argument
in in some academic research about it about um, you know,
(16:38):
plants that very much resemble cashew is being depicted in
artwork from uh other areas. So it's it's hard to say.
It is hard to say. Uh. Most of the history
you find starts around the sixteenth century, when Portuguese traders
(16:58):
transported the cash you to Mozambi week and along the
coast of India. But more for that whole soil retention
and erosion prevention thing as opposed to a food stuff thing.
Uh and yeah. In these trees they grew rapidly and wildly.
They formed forests, They hopped to nearby islands. They went
up into East Africa and Choppolal regions in South America,
(17:18):
Central America and the West Indies. Eventually it spread from
India to China, to the Philippines, Malaysia and South Asia
in general. Um and pretty early on, Indian confectioners started
incorporating cashews into their desserts, often to replace the more
expensive at the time almonds. Yes. In fifty eight see
(17:39):
Jesuit missionary A Costa wrote about cashews quote found in
the gardens at the city of Santa Cruz in the
Kingdom of Coaching. Jesuit priests in Goa used the cashew
fruit to distill a very strong and stronomly flavored drink
called fenny. At least I think that's how you pronounce
it's I looked it up, but if anyone has a
better pronunciation, you can always send it our way. Um.
(18:00):
A sixteenth century Italian traveler wrote about fending that it
will quote affect a man's head merely by smelling it,
to say nothing of drinking it. The cashew tree was
introduced to Vietnam in the nineteenth century, originally as a
shade tree. When World War Two shut down shipping to India,
a cash you processing industry and Mozambique was born. Because
(18:23):
they've been there, but they hadn't really been processed for
industrially commercially. For a while, Mozambique was the top ex
quarter in nineteen seventy two. At its peak, Mozambique was
producing two sixteen thousand tons. Much of the labor was
done by women, and to this day their studies into
the impact of the cashew industry and women's economic mobility. However,
(18:45):
with independence in nineteen seventy five, these high levels of
production in Mozambique could not be maintained. The value of
cash you nuts shipped to the United States in night
was fifty two million, five eight thousand dollars. Yeah. Commercial
cash you cultivation began in India in the nineteen sixties.
(19:06):
That same decade, cash of trees from India were introduced
to West Africa to combat desertification. Until nineteen seventy two,
the apple was the main focus in Mozambique, and that
changed when people in industry started investigating the potential economic
liability of the two million tons of extra juice answer
from cash you processing Vietnam. I'm recognized cash you as
(19:30):
a commercial crop in nineteen nine. Uh yeah. Through Throughout
the eighties and into the nineties, the market for cash
us became such that these small farmers across West Africa
and India and out into Southeast Asia UM started replacing
their food crops with this cash crop. And this is
a this is a really complex and tricky issue because
(19:54):
you know, like like it's really helping fight poverty in
these places by by giving them this this good economic
crop to participate in the growth of UM. But in
a perfect world, UM, you know, despite fighting poverty, there's
still high levels of malnutrition in these areas. So in
a perfect world, there would be a balance at any
giving farming area between producing crops for sale and producing
(20:17):
nutritious food for the people who live and work there.
UM or at the very least, like the money that
they get from these cash crops would enable them to
buy good food through like a stable infrastructure of markets. UM.
But we're not quite there yet. UM. The majority of
cash you farms are small and family operated, like a
few acres um, and they will sell or trade their
(20:38):
crops um to or through larger organizations, which generally then
sell the fruit to separate processors, which generally then sell
the nuts to separate factory packagers. So like by the
time you buy a cash you a single cash you
nut at retail um, that the premium price that you're
(20:59):
paying for it um is just trickling down through these layers,
and as it is so often the case with laborious
products like that, like the people doing the hardest work
are receiving the least amount of money for it um.
And that's the thing that that a number of international
organizations are working on. But I would say that you know,
(21:20):
if you are a concerned consumer, and I certainly hope
that everyone listening to this, is that if you if
cash us are a thing that you purchase, that you
you look for labeling um uh. You know, just just
investigate the products that you buy and uh and look
for labeling with stuff like a like like fair trade
on there. Very frequently the label organic can kind of
(21:41):
stand in for products that were produced in a more
ethical way. But you sort of have to research um
product product in order to sess that out. And it's, uh,
it's time consuming and I and I know that it's
it's hard to eke out time to to to to
do anything like that, but but it can really help
make a difference in people's lives. So yeah, absolutely. Uh.
(22:05):
In two thousand nine, of Finny from Goa became the
first alcoholic beverage from India to receive a Global Geographical
Indication registration, meaning the real deal can only have come
from go Up Love it. Yes. Cash use had a
viral moment in twenty nineteen when the Internet at large
(22:26):
freaked out about how cash yous grew and all these
like it looks like an old man yelling at children.
All yeah, yeah, I mean look entirely. I had no idea.
I'm shocked. Yeah yeah. Oh if you if you, as
you're listening to this, I haven't seen this picture. And
there's one in particular that went really viral and you're
(22:47):
listening to Lauren describe it and you're like, wait, what
go look it up. It does not look like you
think you, I promise you. Yeah. It's like someone like
like pasted like a big green cash you onto the
end of an apple pear, and or it looks like
a like a weirdly misshapen bell pepper, maybe like with
(23:09):
a stem. And that's the cashew fruit. It's on the Yeah,
that's on the bottom. Yeah, I don't know. Nature, nature y'all,
nature y'all. Uh. Recently there has been a trend of
plant based milks and and other dairy products like cheese.
Is I know a couple of you've written in about
(23:31):
milk free. The terminology gets talked about in our meat
alternative milk alternative, uh, products like cheese, and yes, there's
cashe milk, and sometimes it's blended with other things like almonds.
Certainly something we'll have to return to for another episode.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Nut milks and et cetera are
(23:53):
for sure a different product for a different day. Um.
You can get into a little bit of that in
our area. You can get into a little bit of
that in our Tofu episode. Um. But who yeah, Okay,
that was that was not you have to you have
(24:14):
to stop the research. You have to put it down
at some point. Um. But but speaking of actual research,
not colloquial research, the way that I was just using
the word UM actual scientific research. There's been a lot
of recently into how to use other parts of the
cashew plant UM, and particularly that nasty stuff from from
(24:36):
the fruit and the shells. UM. The the liquid that
you obtain is a byproduct during cashew processing. UM. It's
called a cashew nut shell liquid or CNSL in the industry,
and it's pretty cool because UM, despite being this poisonous
waste product, or in fact, because of it being this
poisonous waste product, UM, finding ways to make use of
(24:57):
it is super helpful to the people who grow and
process cashews and also to the environment. And it's fascinating
stuff Like there are compounds in it that researchers have
found to be good absorbers of ultra violet lights UM,
u v A and UVB, which means that these compounds
could be put to use in creating sunscreens for for
(25:18):
humans and livestock, or could even be incorporated into UM
like polymers and coatings that lend, you know, like non
living objects resistance to sun damage. Also that that main
caustic acid in the cashew fruit UM, anacartic acid, has
some antimicrobial properties UM and is being investigated for everything
from like acne control to prevention of tooth decay and uh,
(25:43):
there's some preliminary research going into how antacartic acid might
be used to help treat some conditions that involve nerve
damage um, like like specifically conditions where the myelin, that
the protective sheath that surrounds our nerves UM, where that
milin gets damaged, things like multiple sclerosis. Because it turns
(26:04):
out that antarcartic acid it inhibits this this one enzyme
and inhibiting that induces production of this protein that induces
the formation a milin. So yeah, it's all it's all
like in vitro and in vivo animal studies right now.
But um but maybe in the future that could that
could be super awesome. Yeah, very cool. And that's that's
(26:30):
about what we have to say with the cash. You
have to say, this one was a very surprising one.
I did not know that they looks that way. I
know that they were poisonous. I did not know any
of this about them. I am so glad to it's
so glad to learn it's I when I started, when
I did like my preliminary google, I was like, oh no, oh,
this has to be an episode that we record on
(26:51):
a Tuesday, because I need a good lead up for
this one. I need to sit with this one for sure.
Yeah yeah, Um, well we do have a little bit
more for you listeners. We do. We We've got about
some listener mail and also a couple of just like
catchup points that Annie and I not points about actual
(27:13):
catchup that I'm aware of, but but a couple other
discussion points um, and we will get into those as
soon as we get back from one more quick break
for a word from our sponsor, and we're back. Thank
(27:34):
you sponsors, Yes, thank you, yes, so for our quick
catch up non catch up related catchup points. Um for
the first one. A lot of you have written in
about this. Soon after are Boxed Wine episode came out,
Franzia debuted a boxed wine backpack. Uh. Now I investigated
(27:56):
as a good food podcast do yeah. Uh. From what
I can understand, it's sort of a crafting project. Oh like,
it doesn't come in backpack form. It comes in box
form with straps and then instructions how to make the
backpack should you desire, which I'm assuming if you bomp
this you do you do? Probably yes, So innovations happening ongoing.
(28:24):
Also very excited for future listener mail about Australia's drinking
game called Goon of Fortune Fortune. Yes, a lot of
you have written in about it, and you've also alerted
me to what I have never foolishly never thought I
could do, which is used the bag the bladder. Do
(28:45):
you blow it up and make a pillow or a
foot rest? I never ever thought of that? Huh. Yes, yes,
So thanks to everybody who alerted us to this very
important updated news and breaking news. Yeah. Category of innovation
of how to do with with bag in box wine bags? Yes,
(29:07):
And also in the innovation world of wine, Taco Bell
in Canada has recently debuted a wine called Jalapeno Noir
and it's also available for delivery. What is it? It's
from Chalupa Estates. It's cheese, cheesy Chaloopa Estates. I believe
(29:27):
the estate from which this wine hypothetically comes from. Um.
And I am so madd Canada for having this product. Um.
I cannot. I just don't understand the good fortune of
your country. Yeah, I mean not only that you can
(29:48):
get it delivered, that's wild, Oh my gosh right. Yeah,
and it's from what we can tell no howapenos were
harmed in the making of this wine. Um, it's it's
just a it's a pino noir, so it's like a
pun halapo. This guy, I believe the tasting notes it
was cherry and beat root, strawberry, cherry and beat I
(30:09):
think yes. And they do recommend you have it, you
enjoy it with their cholupa because that chalupa has a
six months aged cheddar right, clearly, clearly, But I'm sure
they won't judge if you enjoy it with something else. Yeah,
if anyone has experienced the hypothetical joy that is hal
(30:30):
Apon noir from Taco bell Um, please right in and
let us know. Um, if you want to smuggle some
over country lines and get it to us, I'm not
going to tell you not to. Oh yeah, and if
you have any Taco Bell connects, look super producer dealon
is a big fan. Yeah, where you know, you know
(30:53):
where it finds you do you do like hey, like
Taco Bell if you are listening, like get in touch
like u um uh. And our third catchup update uh
catch up non catch up update um is just something
that we kind of wanted to mention because Okay, so
(31:15):
some of you savvy listeners out there may have heard
some of the news around um, around j K. Rowling
and this strong position that she has come out with
about being kind of solidly anti trans and at the
very least very disparaging of the concept that a trans
woman is really a woman. Um and up to and
(31:35):
including the part like this. This made huge waves back
in June when the world was on extra on fire
and she was just ranting at people on Twitter about
how they're not women and to sit down. Um and
then uh, and then the news came out yesterday. Was
it only yesterday? The internet moved so quickly, um that
her her upcoming novel is about a serial killer who
(31:59):
dresses who assist dude who dresses up as a woman
in order to do his serial killing and uh and
and Annie and I have come out as being such
huge Harry Potter nerds on this show, like we did
an episode about butter beer, like we reran it and
we're excited about it, like like I mean, like we
have whole arguments about like what house each of us
(32:21):
are in, and and uh and so I thought it
was really important to just to just say that trans
rights are human rights, and um, trans women are women
and trans men are men, and uh and if I can,
if I can go on like a mild like this
is so not food related, but like it's it's just
like just a really basic primer of a thing that
(32:41):
I think that a lot of people get confused about
in terms of this issue. This is like way more
stuff Mom never told you, kind of material. But um,
but so okay, like when I when I say that
trans women are women and trans men are men, by that,
I mean that the term sex and the term gender
are two separate terms, okay, And so uh, sex are
(33:02):
the biological and genetic uh traits that you have when
you are born, and male and female are the two
most common sexes. There's a bunch of other combinations that
that um, that your chromosomes can wind up giving you
and there's so so you know, so it's not binary.
And then gender is the societal construct that we have.
(33:25):
And the two most common genders perhaps are woman and man.
But you're not born a woman, you're not born a man.
You're born male or female or etcetera. And so uh
so what you decide to identify as when you grow
up can be woman or man or anything. And it
(33:46):
doesn't have necessarily anything to do with the sex that
you are assigned at birth. Um. So you know, uh,
and and there's there's, of course a lot of other
complicating factors. That's a very high level overview of what
the issue is. But um, you know, just uh if
if anyone else out there is kind of like low
(34:07):
key and mourning about um about J. K Rowling's bigotry. Um,
and you know, because maybe, like you, you have felt
like an outsider at some point in your life and
you found solace or hope in the Harry Potter stories
or Harry Potter fandom and you feel like that's kind
of ruined now. UM, I'm right there with you. UM.
(34:27):
But you know, especially gosh, especially if you're trans. Um,
I just want, I just want to say, like you are,
maybe not by J. K Rowling, but like you are,
you are seen, and you are valued and loved and
so brilliant and just never never forget that. Please. Yeah.
I couldn't have said it better myself, Lauria. No, yeah,
(34:50):
Lauren's rant corner. Thank you for letting me do that, Yes,
thank you. Um. And we do have some listener mail.
We do oh do we have a do we have a? Oh? Yeah,
I've already thought of it. Okay, okay, this is a
tricky one though. All right, all right, I'm ready and
we have some ko I've reached new levels more and
(35:24):
I can't be stopped. Pipino noir latch something in me.
Oh heck, well, um, you have much to fear in
the future. I quake. I quake in my podcasting boots,
which are at this point my bare feet, So megan ute.
(35:49):
While I have been aware of molecular astronomy for a while,
I didn't realize that it was a field introduced by
a physicist. I'm a physicist, and now I'm a little sad.
But no one told me I could study food for
my pH d. That would have been awesome. I study
black holes instead. So it's still pretty fun, but it's
not figuring out how to improve cheap whiskey. On the
(36:09):
bright side, physics departments do a lot of casual molecular gastronomy,
since we love liquid nitrogen LLEN two and have plenty
on hand. I frozen grapes and fun sized candy bars
and classes and made lots and lots of liquid nitrogen
ice cream. In grad school, I worked at a summer
camp where we could make individual servings of it by
portioning out the ice cream mix into small cups and
(36:31):
having the attendees stir as we poured the Ellen two
into the cup. While this lets everyone experience the billowing
cloud from the Ellen too hitting the ice cream based
in the bottom, it doesn't usually lead to a good
texture ice cream. If you don't stir fast enough or
pour on too much Ellen too, you get a layer
of nearly impenetrable ice cream with liquid below. If you
don't add enough ellen too, it doesn't freeze. Making a
(36:54):
big batch leads too much better results. Physicists, or at
least my friends, are also big fans of souve eating,
probably because we appreciate the accuracy you can get from
an immersion circulator and maybe all the tables that Kneel
Lopez includes and his recipe descriptions. My husband and I
use ours at least once a week, which has the
added benefit of weekly seasoning of our cast aron skillet,
(37:17):
which is in fantastic shape now. It's also great for
making yogurt bacterio, which I do less often than I
mean too, but it makes me very proud of myself
when I do it. Fermenting is also very popular among physicists,
from yogurt to sour dough to beer, so much homebrewing
(37:37):
and beyond. In fact, I've been joking with some students
in my department that we need a physics fermenters pH instead. Yes, colub,
because so many of us have sour dough starters right now. Yes,
you should have a fermenters club. Oh, all of that
is so glorious. I you study black holes, I know, great,
(38:01):
I know, I love this. I would have loved to
have been a part of all those physics. The intersection
of physics and food is right up both of our alleys.
Is amazing, this really is. Oh that that makes me.
That makes me really really happy. Um oh gosh, food
brings everyone together. M hm ha. Chris wrote when Lauren
(38:24):
was talking about the pronunciation of Annis, it reminded me
of a hilarious story from when I was little. My
mom made Anna's cookies and my grandma loved them. She
pronounced them anus cookies. Some Christmas time, my mom got
a cookie tin and made a ton of Annas cookies
in the shape of little butts and labeled them Anus
cookies and gave them to my grandma as a gift.
(38:47):
My grandma was horrified when she opened them and put
two and two together. It was very funny to everyone else. Okay,
your mom sounds excellent. That is hilarious the best. Just also,
little butt cookies would be so cute. I know I
(39:11):
kind out to see a picture, right. Oh gosh, um
these are two. Every every single piece of listener mail
that we receive is amazing, and these are just just amazing.
Thank you, yes, yes, yes, we have so much a
listener mail to share with you all in the future.
(39:32):
Thanks to both of them for writing. If you would
like to send us a mail, you can. Our email
is hello at savor pod dot com. We're also on
social media. You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, and
Facebook at savor pod, and we do hope to hear
from you. Savor is production of I Heart Radio. For
more podcasts to my heart Radio, you can visit the
I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
(39:54):
to your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our superproducers
Dylan Fagin and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening,
and we hope that lots more good things are coming
your way. H
Savor News
Hosts And Creators
Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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