Value adding at the Producer level and Fair Trade
The island of Flores and its southern neighbor, Sumba, account for the majority of cashews produced in Indonesia and yet there were no options for value addition by local producers. With no facilities for processing, all cashews were purchased “in-shell” and sold to processors in India or Vietnam. Prices were extremely low, exploitation was extremely high and no premiums were paid for differentiation if motivated producers did try to increase quality by sun drying and/or grading in-shell nuts.
Big Tree Farms our partners in Indonesia developed a program that would allow smallholder cashew farmers to access premiums and begin to take control of value-addition processing. The first step was certification. Farmers in the program were certified organic for production and processing as well as for fair trade. This allowed producers to continue selling cashew-in-shell at a more viable price due to a somewhat stable premium of 10-15% allocated to organic and fair trade cashews.
Due to notoriously thin margins and high necessary volumes associated with cashew processing (estimated minimum processing quantity for conventional cashews is +/-500 metric ton/per annum), the challenge of the program was to find an alternative processing scenario that would yield viable returns with relatively small bulk quantities.
The solution was to create a 100% raw, cold-processed cashew nut. The definition of “raw” for the cashew industry means “not roasted”; cashew-in-shell are either boiled in oil or scorched in fire in order to condition the shell prior to cracking and speed the process. However, during that heating process the cashew degrades significantly and essential fatty acids and enzymes are destroyed.
The special knives which allow producers to both pierce and split the tough outer shell of the unheated cashew nut are being continually fine tuned. Once the shell has been broken to expose the cashew kernel (still nestled snuggly inside), producers use a thin stainless steel pick to pry the kernel out. These kernels are still encased in a thin red skin, or testa, which must be dehydrated to facilitate removal. For this process producers must either use solar dryers erected of bamboo and plastic greenhouse covers or use commercial-scale dehydrator equipment.
Either way the nuts are dehydrated at a maximum of 40º Celsius (solar dryers operate at approximately 35º) for 12-14 hours at which time the thin skin is rubbed from the kernel with cotton gloves. De-skinned cashews are then sent for final quality inspection where any imperfections are cleaned away with a scalpel. Finished cashews are graded only as Wholes, Splits or Pieces and are returned to dehydration for a final 4-6 hours to guarantee packaging at a min of 5% moisture content.
The processing necessary for our Really Raw cashews is slow, relative to conventional processing, but the high quality and unbeatable flavor are unquestionable. As an example of this, typical cashews in India are processed at a rate of 12-14kg/worker/day while for our Really Raw cashews typical processing rates are only between 4-5kg/worker/day!
This great disparity in processing capacities translates to a significant difference in price, which in turn leads to a serious temptation for buyers and manufacturers of “raw” food products to purchase industry “raw” cashews (defined as non-roasted though still heat-treated) rather than support truly raw, cold-processed product.
A step-by-step guide to Really Raw Cashew Processing:
1- Picking and drying process of nuts
- Naturally fallen raw cashews with 15-20% moisture are collected by the farmers.
- Raw cashews are sun dried for 2-3 days (maximum temperature is 30°C) until moisture level comes down to 10-12%.
2- Storing of nuts
- Dried cashew nuts are packed in woven gunny sacks and stored in well ventilated rooms with enough space given between stacks for air circulation. Dried cashew-in-shell are warehoused for up to 12 months without degradation although some further moisture is lost (2-3%).
3- Shelling of nuts
- Raw cashew nuts are shelled manually by utilizing specially-made cutters in order to remove the shells and release the cashew kernels. Kernels at this stage are still covered in a testa or thin skin.
4- Drying process of kernels with testa
- Cashew kernels with testa/skin are dehydrated at maximum 40 oC for 12-16 hours in order to reduce moisture level to 5%.
5- Peeling process of kernels
- Testa/skin of the kernel is removed manually with cloth gloves and final quality check is done with scalpel to remove any remaining skin or blemish.
6- Packing of kernels (with or without testa)
- Kernels are vacuum packed in 1kg plastic bags
- Plastic bags are packaged in cartons.
