Cashews, Sweet Cashews

Cashews are plucked, apparently, from the end of a cashew apple. Add this fruit to my list of things to try when (someday) I'm  in South America and/or India. I always thought of cashews as the most decadent nut, the ones that get plucked out of the mixed-nuts bowl first, and the ones that were the most (gasp) fattening. But it's better fat, right? I don't care.

Earlier this year I had raw nut pate for the first time at a yoga studio/raw food cafe. I was somewhat skeptical of what sounded to me like glorified chunky nut butter, but I loved it and made my own by adapting this recipe. I made mine much chunkier than the photo on that website.  It's like a very coarse nut chutney.

Who knew that waterlogged nuts pureed with onions and garlic and herbs and bell pepper could be so good? The cashews make the pate savory, and, eaten on crackers or stuffed in a red cabbage leaf, the stuff is addictive. Which makes me wonder why I've only made it once.