Why are cashew nuts so expensive?

Answer 1

For a start, an entire tree produces less than 2 pounds (1 kilo) of edible nuts a year, and the process of preparing the nuts for sale is very labor intensive.
Traditionally, cashew nuts are prepared as follows:
• The Cashew Apple falls off the tree
• The fruit is picked up and the nut is twisted off.
• The nut is soaked in water
• It is then laid out and dried in the sun
• Each nut is cracked open individually using a machine that is foot and hand powered
• The nut is picked out of the shell by hand
• The red skin on the nut is then scraped off with a knife
• The nuts are them graded into one of 22 grades
Machines are available for processing the nuts, but the highest grade of nuts is the whole ones, (and machinery is expensive) so many producers still use the old fashioned method.

Answer 2

Visited a Cashew 'factory' in India, lets just say the costs arent going to the workers or health and safety

Answer 3

Cashew nuts are pretty expensive because they are difficult to grow in the US. We have to import them from Asian countries, which make the transportation expensive

Answer 4

I heard that each tree producces one nut. I think the guide at the Eden Project in Cornwall told us that.

Answer 5

because it grows outside the fruit and has one nut.

Answer 6

Cos they come from foreign lands and hard to grow.

Answer 7

Difficult to grow.

Answer 8

because they have to send small trolls to pick them that are only born on a leap year on tuesday afternoons. at 8pm and are called fred

Answer 9

Because they taste SOOOO GOOD! *cough* erm....

In other words, they are probably hard to grow or cost alot of money to grow.

Answer 10

They're my fave...and I've wondered the same thing too!! I'll still pay it for them...they're the best!