7 Basic Step To Harvest Cashew Nuts In Vietnam

4 min readJan 28, 2021

Step 1: Waiting for the cashews until the fruits begin to fall off the cashew tree.
Step 2: Collecting the cashew fruits and cashew nuts.
Step 3: Separating the Cashew Nuts from the Cashew Apples (Use Knife)
Step 4: Leave the detached raw cashews nuts in sun to dry, until the moisture of products is 11% max.
Step 5: Deliver raw cashew nuts to the factory to shell cutting, peeling husk skin.
Step 6: Grading cashew nuts kernel based-on AFI Standard.
Step 7: Packing and ready for export around the world.

Like other places, farmers in Vietnam also harvest cashew nuts following the 7 basic steps

Waiting cashew fruits fall.

If you pluck the cashew fruits with hands before cashews get fully matured, they will reduce the quality of the cashew nuts. So Vietnamese farmers don’t pluck them and waiting for the fruits to fall into groups. While waiting, they keep the area below the cashew trees well raked and clear of weeds. Daily collection of cashew nuts together with cashew fruits from the ground.

The Cashew fruits Fell to the ground, waiting for the collector — In the cashew nuts early season in Vietnam.

Separating the cashew nuts

Then the farmer used the knife to properly separate the cashew nuts from the apple. While separating cashew nut from the cashew apple, shouldn’t leave any part of apple on the cashew nut head. The quality of the nut is affected when the apple is not neatly detached from the nut.

The quality of the nut will be affected when the apple is not neatly detached from the nut.

Drying cashew nuts

The farmer must dry collected raw cashew nuts in sunlight for a minimum of 2 days. Air-dry collected nuts on concrete floors, drying mats, or tarpaulins under shade for 2 to 4 days. Turn nuts frequently during the drying period to ensure uniform drying.

Local Famer drying the raw cashew after collecting them.

Storage of raw cashew nuts

Freshly harvested cashew nuts will be dried. Then, screened and sorted according to size. This screening will be useful for cutting and removing impurities such as soil, rock, trash … mixed in cashew. Once sorted, the cashew will be stored in bags and stored in batches. Dried cashew nut must be store in jute bags where its get more air ventilation. The farmers never store cashew nuts in plastic bags because its affects negatively the cashew quality. Cashew nut bags must be store in organized piles on top of the wooden pallets, keeping distance to the warehouse walls. Store well-dried nuts in jute sacks (no plastic or fertilizer sacks containers like boxes, buckets…).

Dried raw cashew nut must be store in jute bags where its get more air ventilation.

Shell cutting, peeling

The raw cashew nuts are delivered to the factory to prepare them for cutting shell (hardshell outside) and peeling husk skin. Firstly, they will be steamed to de-acidify the cashew shell. This process helps to soften the hardshell of cashew nuts. After Steam Roasting is complete, the cashew nuts are cutting off by specialized knives to remove the outer shell to get the inner kernel. This is a very difficult stage, requiring skilled workers to separate the shell without breaking the inner core of the cashew nuts (cashew kernel). Usually, the cashew shells will be thrown away like the waste, but now they are used to make many useful products.

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Cashew Shell cutting difficult stage, requiring skilled workers to separate the shell without breaking the inner core of the cashew nuts (kernel).

@More Info about here: Vietnam Cashew Nuts!