The original cashew factory of Coron, Palawan (Philippines)
The small store was packed with amazing cashew nut products, shelves were neatly stocked with cashews that came in different size pre-packages and assorted flavors: roasted, toasted, spicy, regular, honey brittle, or yema w/ kasoy (cashew). We sampled a few of them and I was delighted by how delicious some of the flavors were. I did not try the spicy one. I purchased some of my favorite flavors to snack on.
Mom and I came back 3 days later and Melb's asked us if we've seen the "factory" which I thought was offsite somewhere. She led us to a set of stairs and we descended to the "factory." There were four elderly women working downstairs. I did not realize that cashews go through a highly elaborate processing system before they arrive neatly packaged on their shelves. And everything was manually done! Amazing!
Aside from the cashew nuts being farmed and harvested then separated from the false fruit, roasted, and cooled, here we watched as one of the ladies used this contraption to crack open the shells then peeled and sorted. She explained that the most difficult step in processing cashew nuts is extracting the kidney-bean-shaped nut from its shell, which is labour-intensive as I watched and observed. This required a skilled workforce. The other women were in the kitchen, roasting, cooking and preparing the cashews for sale. We were given a sample of the Palawan Bandi. It was explained that this is a common appetizer and/or dessert served in most restaurants and is the most-well known appetizer from Palawan. The women had such inspiring, positive attitudes while doing their jobs... much respect for them.
Now I see why cashews are expensive, because there is just one nut per fruit and so much manual labor goes into it.
Review #3188 (replacing Fleur Du Lac Estates) read more