Cashew apples are produced in greater quantities worldwide; nonetheless, a vast
majority are discarded. However, existing literature have established several
potentials of cashew apple, especially in improving food and nutrition security,
advancing industry, and promoting socio-economic development. In this evolving
era of circular food economy for food system sustainability, these potentials could
be rightly harnessed in addressing existing irregularities in the food value chain.
However, appropriate utilization of any food material is incumbent on prior
knowledge of their characteristics. To promote valorization of cashew apple in
food and nutritional applications, the authors present a comprehensive review
and global database of the nutritional, bioactive, and techno-functional
characteristics of cashew apples and derived products, together with associated
health benefits. The paper also emphasized some food circularity pathways for
cashew apple, including advances in their exploration, and their major processing
steps. Insights from this review portray cashew apple as a substantial nutritional
resort and a much reliable and affordable substrate for industrial explorations,
especially in producing beverages, flour, animal feed, and functional extracts. For
non-food applications, cashew apple has been successfully explored as an agro-
industrial byproduct for renewable energy generation, especially ethanol
production, and could progress into a commercially viable energy generation
substrate. In growing regions where the apple is rampantly underutilized,
maximizing exploration, of its food circularity potentials could essentially bridge
local food and nutritional disparities and significantly minimize waste burden,
consequent to a reduction in environmental impacts from the cashew industry.
Furthermore, this would promote the food industry in growing regions and
provide an avenue to buffer their economic system through job creation and
enhanced food accessibility, thereby ameliorating the socio-economic conditions
in such areas.
RETRIEVED FROM: pubs.acs.org
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