Raw cashew kernel is the shelled and peeled seed of Anacardium occidentale. It is not a Ukrainian crop and this record does not pretend otherwise: the raw nut is grown in West Africa, India, Vietnam, Brazil and Indonesia, and the great majority of shelling and peeling capacity sits in Vietnam and India. It appears in the Vorezan catalogue because a European buyer building a nut programme specifies cashew in the same tender as walnut, and because the specification discipline is identical whatever the origin.
What is different about cashew is that it arrives already processed. Walnut and almond are shipped as a farm product with a grading step; cashew reaches Europe after steaming, shelling, drying, peeling and grading in a factory, usually one or two ocean legs from the field where the raw nut grew. That means the specification is a factory specification, that the traceability chain has an extra link in it, and that the processing establishment is as much a part of due diligence as the farm.
Grades, cuts and calibration
The grade code is a letter and a number and both carry information.
The letter is the form. W is whole kernel, S is splits, B is butts, P is pieces, and the further down that ladder a lot sits the cheaper it is. Within whole kernel the colour ladder runs white or first quality, then scorched, then dessert, which describes progressively darker and more heat-marked kernel. Scorched wholes are not defective; they are a legitimate grade that costs less and performs identically in a product where the kernel is not visible.
The number is the count. W240 means roughly 240 kernels to the pound and W320 roughly 320, so a higher number is a smaller kernel. W180 and W210 are the large display grades, W240 and W320 carry most of the industrial volume, and W450 is the small end of whole kernel. The count is a size band, not a guarantee that every kernel is identical, and the contract should carry the permitted count range rather than the code alone.
What the code does not carry. Grade says nothing about moisture, free fatty acid or microbiological status. A W320 white whole with 6 per cent moisture and a rising free fatty acid is a worse purchase than a scorched whole at 4 per cent that was vacuum packed the week it was graded. The chemistry and micro lines below are where the risk sits.
Seasonality and availability
Raw cashew nut is harvested between roughly February and May in the main origins, and the processing factories run through the year on stored raw nut. Kernel is therefore offered against shipment months rather than against a harvest season, and the two questions worth asking are how long the raw nut sat before processing and how long the kernel has been in the tin since.
Raw nut held for many months in humid conditions before shelling arrives at the factory with a higher starting mould load and a higher free fatty acid, and no amount of care downstream recovers that. Kernel held long in a vacuum tin is stable, which is exactly why the trade packs it that way, but the clock does not stop entirely.
The ocean leg is a real part of the specification. A container crossing the equator twice can sit above 40 degrees Celsius inside for days, and that is a meaningful oxidation exposure on a kernel that then has months of European shelf life ahead of it. Ask for the packing date, not only the shipment date.
What the buyer checks at intake
- Identity and lot: grade code with the permitted count range, processing establishment, packing date and country of origin of the raw nut as well as of the kernel, because they are often not the same country.
- Count verification on a weighed and counted sample against the contracted band, plus the whole-kernel percentage, because a whole grade delivered with a high split share is the most common commercial shortfall.
- Colour and scorch level against the retained reference, on a spread sample rather than from the top of one tin.
- Moisture on arrival, which on a vacuum-packed kernel should be low and stable; a raised figure points at a compromised seal.
- Vacuum or gas integrity on a sample of tins or bags. A soft tin is a failed pack and the kernel inside it has been oxidising since the seal went.
- Free fatty acid and peroxide value from the certificate, and a sensory check for the sharp, slightly bitter note that precedes obvious rancidity in cashew.
- Salmonella and the treatment status in writing, because whether the kernel has had a validated reduction step determines what it may go into without further processing.
Where it is used
Snack and retail nut mixes take the whole grades at the large end, W180 through W320, roasted and salted or seasoned, and this is the most appearance-sensitive channel because the consumer sees the kernel. Colour and count consistency carry a real premium here and scorched grades generally do not clear.
Confectionery and bakery take whole and split kernel into pralines, nougats, bars and toppings. Where the kernel is coated or enrobed the colour grade can drop a step without any consumer-visible consequence, and buyers who understand that source scorched wholes deliberately.
Ingredient users take splits, butts and pieces into butters, pastes, milks and dairy alternatives, where the kernel is comminuted and grade is irrelevant. This is the fastest-growing outlet in Europe and it is the one where free fatty acid matters most, because grinding exposes the whole lipid fraction at once.
Standards and routes
Cashew reaches Europe by sea in containers, typically to Rotterdam, Hamburg or Antwerp, and is then distributed by road. The two packs that dominate are the traditional 22.68 kilogram vacuum tin and the flexible vacuum or nitrogen-flushed barrier bag in a carton, which has taken share because it is lighter, cheaper to dispose of and easier to handle.
Because the goods are already in free circulation questions arise at the first import rather than at the intra-Union leg. The relevant controls are the general official control framework under Regulation (EU) 2017/625 and, for origins subject to it, the temporary increase in checks under Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1793, which is amended periodically and has to be read in the version in force on the day.
Once inside the Union, onward road movement is unremarkable. Supplier assurance runs through BRCGS or IFS Food at the processing establishment, and the contaminant and treatment detail sits in the aflatoxin management guide.
