Goa February 2008 -Visit to a Cashew Nut Processing Plant

From our visit to the spice gardens we knew that cashew nuts are encased in iron hard shells growing beneath edible fruit which can be eaten raw or made into jelly. The nuts themselves are poisonous until roasted.
The processing plant takes delivery of the cashew nuts still in their shells and sends them out flavoured and packaged.

Most stages of the process are done manually by women on piecework
using mechanical rather than electrical tools.

	Cashews nuts waiting to be processed.
Breaking open the hard cashew shells. This has to be done without breaking the nut inside
	The skin has to be peeled off the nut
Broken nuts have to sorted from whole ones.
	Here at the weighing and packaging desk I saw the first electronic machine

10.
Cashew Nut Factory

11.
Waterfall

12.
Margaret's
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