When we think of cashews, we usually picture the crunchy kernels—healthy, versatile and popular. But what many people don’t know: every single cashew nut grows on a fruit—the cashew apple.
This vibrant yellow-to-red fruit, about the size of an apple, is juicy, refreshing, and loaded with vitamins. Botanically, the cashew nut isn’t a nut at all, but the seed of this fruit. And the cashew apple itself? A true superfood, containing up to five times more vitamin C than oranges! Yet in most cases, it ends up discarded.
The numbers are staggering: for every kilo of processed cashew nuts, around ten kilos of cashew apples are left behind. Nearly four million tons are wasted each year—not because they’re inedible, but because the fruit is highly perishable and infrastructure for transport and processing is often lacking in the growing regions. An untapped treasure.
This is exactly where our partner AKOUA comes in. The startup is dedicated to rescuing cashew apples and transforming them into valuable products such as juice, refreshing lemonade, and concentrate used as a natural sweetener.
Cashew apple: The fruit behind the nut.
An exotic refeshment: Cashew fruit lemonade.
At Lipoid Kosmetik, this is precisely why we turn to the cashew apple. With Cashew Apple Pro, our novel, upcycled substainated extract, we showcase the fruit’s hidden potential for cosmetics.
Rich in phytonutrients and scientifically proven to revitalize the skin, this ingredient not only reduces food waste but also delivers meaningful social and economic impact. In doing so, we transform the overlooked cashew apple into a sustainable and innovative powerhouse for modern cosmetic formulations.