Cashew nuts: grades W180 to W320, Polish names and how to cook with them

Cashew nuts (kaju in Hindi, orzechy nerkowca in Polish) are the kidney-shaped seeds of the cashew tree, with a creamy colour and a mild, buttery taste. The codes W180, W240 or W320 on the pack tell you the size of the whole nuts: the lower the number, the bigger the nut. In Indian cooking cashews thicken curries, top biryani and make sweets such as kaju katli.

Cashews on Polish shelves

In a Polish shop look for orzechy nerkowca or simply nerkowce. Many packs also say "cashew" in English. A few other words help:

• całe – whole nuts
• połówki – halves (splits)
• kruszone or łamane – broken pieces
• solone – salted
• prażone – roasted
• surowe – "raw", which in shops means shelled but not roasted

The cashew tree comes from Brazil and now grows in many tropical countries, including India, Vietnam and West Africa. The nut grows in a hard shell under the fleshy "cashew apple". The shell holds an irritating oil, so cashews are shelled industrially and heated before they are sold. Cashews sold as raw are already out of the shell and ready to eat.

What W180, W240 and W320 mean

Cashews are sorted by size and by whether they are whole. The codes come from the international trade.

The letter:

• W (white wholes) – whole, pale nuts. Some packs write it as WW.
• S (splits) – halves, split lengthways.
• B (butts) – nuts broken across.
• P (pieces) – broken pieces.

The number after W is roughly how many whole nuts make up one pound (about 450 g):

The grade does not change the taste. Only size and look differ. For a sauce you will blend anyway, halves or pieces are enough. Buy large W180 nuts when you want the nut to be seen.

How to use cashews in Indian cooking

• Creamy sauces. Soaked and blended cashews thicken korma, shahi paneer and butter chicken.
• Rice. Cashews fried in ghee with raisins go on top of biryani and pulao.
• Upma and poha. A few nuts go into the tadka with mustard seeds and curry leaves.
• Sweets. Kaju katli is a thin diamond-shaped sweet made from ground cashews and sugar. Cashews also decorate kheer and halwa.
• Snacks. Roasted cashews with salt or a masala spice mix.

Cashew paste for curry: cover 50 g of cashews with hot water for 20 to 30 minutes. Drain, then blend the nuts with 100 ml of fresh water until smooth. Stir the paste into the sauce at the end of cooking and heat it gently on a low flame.

How to roast and store cashews

Roast the nuts in a dry pan or in a spoonful of ghee over medium heat, stirring all the time. After 3 to 5 minutes they turn golden. Take them out of the pan at once, because they burn quickly.

Cashews are high in fat and go rancid over time. Keep them in an airtight container in a cool, dark place. Keep a larger stock in the fridge or freezer. A nut that smells of paint or tastes bitter has gone rancid.

Where to buy cashew nuts

Large W180 nuts are on the page cashew nuts WW180 90 g. For cooking, try whole cashews WW320 1 kg or cashew kernels TRS 375 g; for sauces, broken pieces (orzechy nerkowca kruszone) are enough. Other nuts are in the nuts category. Little India has shops in Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław and Gdańsk and ships orders from the online shop.