Chocolate Covered Cashews

SOURCE: Cashews come from a cashew tree that is a tropical evergreen producing the cashew seed and the cashew apple. It can grow to 46 ft tall.

ORIGIN: The cashew plant was native to northeast Brazil, and the Portuguese took it to Goa, India, between 1560 and 1565. From then, it spread throughout Southeast Asia and eventually Africa.

PRODUCTION: In 2015, cashew production was 738,861 tonnes (one metric tonne equals 2,204 pounds). That all equates to 1,628,892,960 pounds (1 billion, 628 million, 892 thousand, 960 pounds).

NUTRITIONAL VALUE: Cashews are an excellent source of vitamin K, thiamin, riboflavin, vitamin B6 and folate and vitamin E, and a great mineral source with 31% of the daily recommended value for copper, 23% for manganese, 20% for magnesium and 17% for phosphorus and selenium. Selenium is a powerful antioxidant which reduces some oxidization in the body that can cause cell damage.