Cashew is a plant originates from Brazil, immigrated into Viet Nam in the 18th century, but it was not until 1975 that cashew was officially registered into Bình Phước’s agricultural portfolio. Since 1975, cashew has been planted in large number and has become the “poverty eradicator” plant, enriching the farmers, especially the Stiêng and the Khmer ethnics in the mountainous area of Bình Phước. Nowadays, “Bình Phước” is titled “the cashew capital” of Việt Nam. The product has been exported to 25 nations and territories.
The geographical indication of Bình Phước cashew nut includes raw cashew nuts, cashew kernels, and roasted and salted cashew nuts.
Raw cashew nuts of Bình Phước are firm, the bottom is larger, the surface is hard, smooth and shiny, when shaken the nuts produce no to little sound, the nut body is 14,5mm - 18mm thick, the percentage of marketable kernels is no less than 30% of the weight, the amount of nuts per kilogram is no more than 200, nut weights 5 to 6 grams per nut.
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Cashew kernels are collected from raw nuts after they are heated, have their hard skin removed, dried, have their inner skin removed, and sorted. Bình Phước cashew kernels are consistently white or slightly yellow, the kernels are straight, swollen to both sides, the thickness is 10,6 mm - 13,1 mm, the surface is smooth and shiny.
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Bình Phước cashew kernels have the natural scent of cashew, without any strange smell, percentage of number of qualified nuts is no less than 95% in each qualification level according to the Việt Nam’s standard on cashew kernel which is TCVN 4850, fat content in Bình Phước cashew kernels weights above 40% and unsaturated fat content is above 23%.
Roasted and salted cashew nuts are the kernel of raw cashew nut, with or without the inner skin, heat treated by roasting and using salt as an additive. Roasted and salted cashew nuts have two types: with and without the inner skin. Bình Phước roasted and salted cashew nuts when splitted apart will have a small gap in the middle, but no salt in the gap. The fat content is no less than 43%, and Carbohydrate content is above 23%. High fat and Carbohydrate contents explain the sweet and fat taste of Bình Phước roasted and salted cashew nuts.
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The quality and peculiarity of Bình Phước cashew are thanks to area suitable for the development of the cashew and the accumulated experience of the locals in cultivating and processing the product.
The geographical area has the monsoon tropical climate, therefore it has high temperature throughout the year, which is a favourable condition for the development of cashew. Moreover, the difference in humidity between two seasons, with rain season from May to November, and dry season from December to April of the next year, allows the plant to develop, bloom and fructify. December, when the flower sprouts start splitting, the humidity falls to 60% - 70%, the temperature rises as well as sunlight is a good condition for sprout splitting. The bloom starts in January and this period often lasts 85 days. During the bloom, the cashew requires low humidity and no rain in 2 months. If there are heavy and persistent rains, the fructification will have a low percentage, lowers the quality of the nuts. Rain distribution regime of Bình Phước is different Đồng Nai’s. While Bình Phước’s rain season starts from May, the rain comes to Đồng Nai in April, allows the development of pests. This is the reason while Đồng Nai’s cashew often has more pests, lower harvest rate and the firmness is not as good Bình Phước’s.
Cashew has a long history in Bình Phước. With more than half of a century cultivating cashew, the locals have accumulated a vast experience in planting, catering and harvesting cashew nuts, suitable to the characteristics of the plant and Bình Phước’s soil condition. Bình Phước locals only reproduce cashew by cloning method at licensed facilities, which adhere to the regulation on breeding standards. The season for planting cashew is from June to late July. The soil of choice of Bình Phước cashew farmers is the red-yellow soil, with the altitude of below 600m, and no flooding nor salinization. The hole for planting cashew must be prepared one month in advanced.
The season for harvesting Bình Phước cashew nuts is from February to June and the farmers must harvest 3 days after the fruits fall at the latest.
Bình Phước cashew nuts are treated by saturated steaming. This method reduces the amount of broken nuts, and lowers the damage to farmers’ health. In Bình Phước, from the cashew nuts with only hard skin removed (the inner skin is still intact), the tasty and crunchy roasted nuts are made by traditional firewood roast method.
The geographical area includes: the communes of Bù Gia Mập, Đăk Ơ, Đức Hạnh, Phú Văn, Đa Kia, Phước Minh, Bình Thắng and Phú Nghĩa of Bù Gia Mập district; the communes of Phú Riềng, Phú Trung, Bù Nho, Long Tân, Long Hà, Long Bình, Long Hưng, Bình Sơn, Bình Tân, Phước Tân of Phú Riềng district; the communes of Phước Tín, Long Giang, the wards of Long Thủy, Thác Mơ, Sơn Giang, Long Phước, Phước Bình of Phước Long town; the communes of Đường 10, Đăk Nhau, Phú Sơn, Thọ Sơn, Bình Minh, Bom Bo, Minh Hưng, Đoàn Kết, Đồng Nai, Đức Liễu, Thống Nhất, Nghĩa Trung, Nghĩa Bình, Đăng Hà, Phước Sơn and the town of Đức Phong of Bù Đăng district; the communes of Tân Thành, Tân Tiến, Thanh Hòa, Thiện Hưng, Phước Thiện, Hưng Phước and the town of Thanh Bình of Bù Đốp district; the communes of Thuận Lợi, Đồng Tâm, Tân Phước, Tân Hưng, Tân Lợi, Tân Lập, Tân Hòa, Thuận Phú, Đồng Tiến, Tân Tiến and the town of Tân Phú of Đồng Phú district; the communes of Lộc Hòa, Lộc An, Lộc Tấn, Lộc Thạnh, Lộc Hiệp, Lộc Thiện, Lộc Thịnh, Lộc Thuận, Lộc Quang, Lộc Phú, Lộc Thành, Lộc Thái, Lộc Điền, Lộc Hưng, Lộc Khánh and the town of Lộc Ninh of Lộc Ninh district; the communes of Thanh An, An Khương, Tân Hưng, Tân Lợi of Hớn Quản district; the communes of Quang Minh and Minh Lập of Chơn Thành district; the communes of Thanh Lương and Thanh Phú of Bình Long town; the communes of Tân Thành, Tiến Hưng, Tiến Thành, the wards of Tân Phú, Tân Đồng, Tân Bình, Tân Xuân, Tân Thiện of Đồng Xoài town, Bình Phước province./.