One of my sisters brought home some cashew nuts and delicacies from her trip to Palawan last week.  There were plain cashew nuts, flavored cashew nuts, cashew prunes and cashew butter.  We don’t usually have cashew in the house so these treats got our full attention for the day.

I’m not so crazy about cashew nuts but I found myself munching away with the honey glazed and spicy garlic flavored nuts while my mom was content with the plain unsalted ones and the garlic flavored ones.  The cashew prunes and butter were something new for us so we were eager to try them as well.

I was hesitant to try the cashew prunes since it wasn’t very appetizing to look at.  But it smells a bit like the Chinese candied fruit “Dikiam” so I got the courage to try it out and found out that it also tasted like dikiam.  It was like a thin and moist version of the dried Chinese fruit that I loved during my childhood.

The cashew butter is also another pleasant alternative to one of my childhood favorites, the peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  Just like the peanut butter, the cashew butter also has a thick and greasy consistency, and a sweet nutty taste with a hint of butter.  But, you’d definitely know that you’re not dealing with peanut butter when you experience the strong but not overwhelming flavor of cashew in the spread.

Cashew nuts are popular snacks that can be roasted and eaten on their own without any seasoning.  It is also used for cooking as thickeners, garnishing or made into desserts in different parts of the world.