Technology for commercial production of cashew sprouts, a traditional delicacy of Kerala.

Cashew sprouts are highly nutritious and a potential additive to a healthy diet. Experiments were conducted at the Cashew Research Station, Kerala Agricultural University, Madakkathara, to evaluate the nutritional quality of cashew sprouts and assess the harvest stage on yield and quality of sprouts, and to study the effect of pre-sowing treatments on germination and recovery. The cashew sprouts recorded 2.48 per cent of total sugars, 4.70 g/100g of protein, 17.18 per cent of fat, 3.6 g/100g of free amino acid, 420 mg/100g of phenol, 2.8 mg/100g of tannin, and 22.22 mg/100g of iron and 64.2 mg/100g of calcium. Cotyledon recovery was the highest (62 to 68 %) and at par in all harvest stages except the leaf unfurling stage (51%). Total sugar content increased from 1.9 per cent at the cotyledon emergence stage to 2.3 per cent at the plumule emergence and leaf unfurling stages. Polyphenol content was highest at the cotyledon emergence stage (1.18%), while free amino acids were lowest (2.53 mg/100). The lowest tannin content was recorded in cotyledons harvested at plumule emergence stage (4.54 mg/100g). Cashew nuts pre-soaked for 72 and 96 hours in water gave higher germination percentage of 95.3 and 90.3, respectively. Pre-soaking of cashew nuts for 72 hours and harvesting at the plumule emergence stage resulted in quality cashew sprouts with higher yield (544.10 g 0.2m-2). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]