Terrific, toasted cashews in a lovely sheet of caramelized sugar
A tasty treat if you’re in the mood for something sort of sweet, a touch savory, and mostly, just really, really good. It’s been a bit of a surprise sleeper on the Candy Manufactory scene—it showed up on the shelves 10 years or so ago without a lot of fanfare. And then one day, it started to pop up—and kept on popping up—on our customer compliment report week after week. The Cashew Brittle is done with a lot of slow cooking to carefully, patiently, and maybe poetically, caramelize the sugar—with a bit of butter and a pinch of sea salt—as we also do with our already pretty famous peanut brittle.
While pecans are native to North America, cashews came originally from Brazil. The English name “cashew” comes from the Portuguese, caju. The tree is a tropical evergreen that can grow as tall as a four or five-story building. It was brought to India in the middle of the 16th century by Portuguese sailors working the spice routes. Wherever it’s grown, the nut, or more formally, seed, actually grows on the outside of the fruit, which, in English, are known as “cashew apples.”
The Candy Manufactory’s Cashew Brittle is both beautiful and delicious. A dark amber-colored confection, studded with sections of straw yellow, gently toasted, cashew nuts. Put it out on a plate for folks to nibble on for a snack, after a meal, or with morning coffee. The Cashew Brittle pairs really well with cheese. It’s super delicious with Parmigiano Reggiano—I had some on a plate with small, broken-up pieces of the cashew brittle—and it was a huge hit! It’d be terrific with the Street Ched from Cincinnati. The Cashew Brittle is, of course, also a superb snack or something to stick in your pocket if you’re getting on a plane for a long flight or into a car for a long drive. And, oh yeah, I almost forgot—Cashew Brittle also comes covered with dark chocolate!
It’s great, too, coarsely chopped and tossed onto a salad—sort of like you’d use croutons.
