One ounce of cashews contains about 16 to 18 nuts, depending on the size of the cashews. One ounce of cashews has about 160 calories and about 5 grams of protein.
Cashews are a seed of a tropical evergreen plant. They originated in Brazil and were carried to India by Portuguese sailors during the 16th century. Usually, the cashew seed hangs from the bottom of the cashew apple, instead of being inside the fruit like most other seeds. Cashews are kidney-shaped nuts encased in a hard shell with two layers. Cashews are never sold in the shell, because the black substance between the layers is extremely caustic.
