Cashews are known as kaju across India, grown along the coastal belts of Kerala, Goa, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. Roasted and salted, they are the default snack at parties, on flights and beside a drink, and the one dry fruit almost nobody dislikes.

Roasting changes cashews more than it changes most nuts. Raw kaju is soft, faintly sweet and slightly waxy. Roasting drives off moisture and develops a deep buttery flavour with a proper crunch. The trade-off is shelf life, since roasted nuts lose their crispness faster than raw ones once air reaches them.

That is where the jar earns its place. Cashews absorb ambient moisture quickly, and in Indian humidity an opened pouch turns them chewy within a week. A sealed jar keeps them crisp to the last handful.

Salt levels vary widely between brands. Heavy salting is usually a way to mask cashews that are not particularly fresh. A well-made salted kaju should let you taste the nut first and the salt second.

How to Identify Good Salted Cashews

• Even pale golden colour from roasting, with no dark scorched patches
• Whole kernels rather than a jar heavy with splits and pieces
• A clean snap when broken, not a soft bend
• Buttery aroma with no oily or stale smell
• Salt you notice after the cashew flavour, not before it

How to Use Salted Kaju

As a snack:

A handful of 10 to 15 cashews is a standard serving. Cashews are calorie-dense, and salted versions are easy to keep eating without noticing, so portioning into a small bowl works better than eating from the jar.

Serving:

• Standard offering with tea, coffee or drinks
• Party and festive snack platters
• Travel and office snacking, since the jar seals shut
• Alongside namkeen and chivda in a mixed bowl

In cooking:

Salted cashews work in savoury dishes but not sweet ones. Use them crushed over salads, poha, upma or stir-fries where the salt is welcome. For kheer, barfi, halwa or any sweet, use plain unsalted cashews instead, since the salt cannot be removed and will spoil the dish.

When to Use Salted Kaju

• Snacking with tea, coffee or drinks
• Party and festive platters
• Office and travel snacking
• Salad and stir-fry topping
• Poha, upma and chivda
• Gift hampers

Not suitable for kheer, barfi, halwa or sweet cooking, where plain cashews are needed.

How to Store Salted Cashews

Roasted cashews lose crispness through moisture, and their oil content means they can eventually turn rancid. Both are manageable.

• Close the jar tightly after every use. This is the single thing that matters most.
• Keep in a cool, dry place away from sunlight and away from the stove.
• Refrigerate during the monsoon or in humid coastal weather, where cashews soften fastest.
• Do not transfer to a loosely closed container or a pouch, since the jar is doing real work here.

Sealed and stored properly, roasted cashews stay crisp for around three months. If they do soften, dry roast on a low flame for two to three minutes and cool completely to bring the crunch back.

Signs cashews have gone off: a sharp or paint-like smell, a bitter aftertaste, or kernels that have darkened noticeably. Fresh cashews smell buttery and taste mild.