CASHEWNUT MOISTURE RELATIONS

By T. N. OKWELOGU and P. J. MACKAY

Investigations on the moisture relations of raw cashewnuts at tropical temperatures (about 27") are
described; a description is included of a laboratory method suitable for use as a reference method, which
involves the use of toluene in a Dean & Stark distillation apparatus. This method was found to be reliable
to within 0'3%.
There was some evidence that differences in the moisture contents of these nuts stored under identical
conditions may be partly due to differences in the kernel/shell weight ratio, and that this ratio is probably
higher in small than in larger nuts. This might explain the slight tendency for the moisture content of
heavy nuts to be greater than that of lighter nuts.
Nuts stored in moving air took up moisture more rapidly and attained equilibrium moisture content
much faster than in apparently still air.
It was found that at an equilibrium moisture content the shell moisture content could be used to
predict the moisture contents of the whole nut and kernel.
Above 75 % R.H., cashewnuts at 27" became visibly invaded by microflora including members of the
genera Aspergillus, Fusarium, Paecilomyces, Penicillium and Rhizopus. Sorption and desorption curves
were produced, relating the ambient relative humidities to the corresponding equilibrium moisture contents
of fresh nuts stored in apparently still air at 27". From this relationship the maximum safe moisture
content for raw cashewnuts was estimated to lie between 8 . 9 and 9.2%, being that in equilibrium with
surrounding air at 70% R.H. and 27".

Introduction or until the equilibrium MC was attained, depending upon the

The cashew, Anacardium occidentale, has become an
important 'cash crop' in many countries, notably India
(where it accounts for about 9 % of the agricultural export
earnings'), Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya and Brazil. In a
number of these countries, production has been increased in
recent years or is projected for the future: for example, in
Tanzania, the target set by the 5-year development plan2 is
85,000 tons by 1970.
After collection, the nuts are usually sun-dried and are then
stored in bags for use throughout the year. If this initial
drying is inadequate and/or the nuts are subsequently stored
in very humid surroundings, as is frequently the case, deterior-
ation sets in within a few weeks, owing to attack by moulds,
bacteria and possibly insects. This usually results in decayed
or discoloured kernels, which are highly objectionable to the
trade.
Although it is recognised in the industry that cashewnuts
should be adequately dried to avoid spoilage during storage,
there is little published research on the necessary moisture
relations. The present studies have been carried out to
investigate these relations and, in particular, to establish the
maximum moisture content for the safe storage of cashewnuts
under tropical conditions.
It has been necessary to establish a reference method of
determining the moisture content of cashewnuts.
Experimental
Nuts
The terms 'nut' and 'kernel' have been used with their
botanical connotations, and, unless otherwise stated, the term
'kernel' includes the testa. The nuts used were obtained from
Tanzania between 1966 and 1968.
To obtain nuts with different levels of moisture content
(MC), the nuts were first dried at 4045" in a forced-draught
air-oven for 24 hours, and then cooled over silica gel in a
desiccator. The initial MC was determined and samples
were exposed to air at selected relative humidities (R.H.)
maintained in standard laboratory desiccators by suitable
saturated salt solutions.3 Nuts were periodically withdrawn
for determination of MC, until the desired level was reached,
J. Sci. Fd Agric., 1969, Vol. 20, December
objective. This was the sorption technique. Alternatively,
the desorption technique, in which the initial MC of the
nuts was higher than the desired final levels, was used. In
this case, also, nuts were conditioned to the different R.H.
For some of the experiments, the nuts were conditioned to
the desired MC by exposure to the air in a room maintained
at the appropriate constant temperature and humidity. In
the present work a constant temperature and humidity (c.t.h.)
room with air maintained at about 27" and 75% R.H., was
used to provide approximately tropical conditions. Con-
tinuous air movement was obtained by means of a ceiling fan.
Determination of cashewnut moisture content
Cashewnuts contain volatile constituents, and in an oven-
drying method, these, as well as moisture, would be driven off.
A distillation method was used to avoid this problem.
Toluene (b.p. 1lOO) was used as the entraining solvent since
it is immiscible with water and would presumably take up any
organic constituents of the nut which might distil over with
water.
Procedure
A Dean & Stark distillation apparatus was used, essentially
as described by the World Health Organisation.4
The entire apparatus was cleaned with potassium dichro-
mate/sulphuric acid solution to minimise the adherence of
water droplets to the sides of the condenser and receiver; it
was rinsed thoroughly with distilled water and was dried
completely (e.g. in a forced-draught air oven) before use.
The nuts were prepared for analysis as quickly as possible.
The nut was held with gloved fingers (for protection against
the vesicant action of the shell liquid) with the suture line
uppermost in a pit carved in a wooden block. The nut was
cut with a scalpel, first along the suture and then across it,
into quarters. The splits were transferred into a weighing
container and the same operation was carried out quickly on
the remainder of the nuts to be analysed together. The
material was weighed immediately (by the differential method)
at least to the nearest 0.1 g and was transferred to the dis-
tillation flask. Sufficient dry toluene was added to cover the
sample, and the mixture was swirled.
698 Okwelogu & Mackay: Cashewnut Moisture Relations

After application of Vaseline to the ground joints of the water in the material was plotted against the distillation time,
condenser and receiver, the apparatus was assembled and the a curvilinear relationship was obtained (Fig. 1); about 12
receiver was filled with toluene poured through the condenser hours of distillation were required to collect all the available
until it began to overflow into the distillation flask. A loose water. Since a shorter distillation time would be preferred
absorbant cotton wool plug was inserted in the top of the in practice, a faster means of obtaining the end-point result
condenser to prevent condensation of atmospheric moisture was examined.
within the tube. When moisture losses after a 2 h distillation were plotted
Cold water was kept in continuous circulation around the against the corresponding moisture losses after distillation to
condenser. The flask was heated at such a rate that about end-point, a rectilinear relationship was obtained (Fig. 2)
170-190 drops of distillate were collected per minute. The which could be used as a reference for subsequent analyses.
sample was completely covered by the toluene while the However, for the present studies, distillation to end-point was
distillation was in progress and heating was continued until adopted.
no more water collected (end-point).
During the distillation, the condenser was purged occasion- Results
ally with small (- 5 ml) portions of toluene in order to wash Table I shows the results of five different sets of analyses
down any water adhering to its walls. A copper wire was carried out on three different batches of nuts (1, 2 and 3).
moved periodically up and down in the condenser and For each analysis, not less than four nuts were used.
receiver, thus causing all the water to settle to the bottom of In batch 3, ten nuts were used for each analysis. Only nuts
the trap. When the water level in the receiver remained un- with sound kernels were used in batch 3 (a), whereas samples
changed for 30 min, using the copper wire again, the condenser of batch 3 (b) consisted of nuts which had been randomly
was flushed down with some toluene and heating was con-
tinued for a further few minutes. Any water still not in the
column was brought down within the trap using the wire.
After the receiver cooled to room temperature, the volume
of water collected was read.
The moisture content was calculated from the following
equation:
100 x v
MC (wt.%) = ___
W
where V = volume of water collected (ml) and W = wt. of
sample (g).

Distillation time
When distillation was carried out at the prescribed rate,
and the collected proportion (as %) of the total amount of

'j/
I
I

'"0 L 8
TIME, h
FIG. 1 . Relationship between distillation time and proportion (%) FIG.2. Relationship between the moisture content of whole cashew-
of total water collectedfrom cashewnuts nuts based on 2 h and end-point distillation
Each point represents the average of 4 readings y = l.lx + 1.0
0 Wholenut; x Shell
J. Sci. Fd Agric., 1969, Vol. 20, December
 Okwelogu & Mackay: Cashewnut Moisture Relations 699
TABLE
I TABLE
I1
Repeatability of the method of determining the moisture content of Average percentage moisture contents of raw cashewnuts exposed to
cashewnuts by distilling with toluene moving and still air at 27" and 75 % R.H.

MC (%) in replicate No. S.E. Still air Moving air

Batch Description Mean of Time
1 2 3 4 mean Group A Group B Group C
1 Wholenut 8.3 8.8 8.4 8.6 8.5 +O.ll Initial 4.1 5.3 6.6
2 Wholenut 4.2 4.0 4.2 4.0 4.1 k0.06 1 day - 7.6 7.6
3(a) Wholenut(S) 6.8 6.9 7.0 6.9 6.9 10.13 1 week 7.2 7.9 8.1
3(b) Wholenut(Us) 7.0 6.9 7.1 7.0 7.0 10.13 2 weeks 8.2 7.7 7.8
3 (c) Shell 7.5 7.5 7.5 7.7 7.6 10.16 3 weeks - 8.0 8.1
4 weeks 9.0 7.9 8.3
6 weeks 9.1 - -
Average S.E. of mean f 0.12; 99% confidence limits
== = f0.3
S = selected; Us = unselected

selected after successive quartering, and the percentage 6

contents, by count, of decayed or otherwise bad kernels were
20,0,40 and 10 for replicate numbers 1 , 2 , 3 and 4, respectively.
An examination of the above data shows that the distillation YI
method described gives results repeatable to within 0 . 3 % in c
C
3
at least 99% of all cases. The results also suggest that, pro- r
vided the samples are as representative as possible, the YI
L
L
(I

reliability of the analytical method is altered neither by the "- I

kernel (i.e., sound or decayed) nor by whether the wholenut
or the shell is analysed for water. .m

E
Uptake of moisture by cashewnuts w
Y
The rate of uptake of moisture by cashewnuts in apparently 4
I-
still air and in moving air at 27" and 75" R.H. was investigated. n
3
In the experiment in still air, fresh nuts (group A) were dried LUz
0
to 4 . 1 % moisture content. They were then divided into four I-3
portions, each of which was conditioned to 75 % R.H. (over br
saturated solutions of common salt) in separate air-tight
desiccators kept in the c.t.h. room. The moisture content
( M C ) of the nuts was determined after 1, 2, 4 and 6 weeks
using only the nuts from one desiccator on each occasion so
that no desiccator was opened more than once. On each I I I
2 4 6
occasion, two samples of four nuts each were analysed for
water and the average M C of the eight nuts was calculated. TIME, weeks
In the experiment in moving air, two groups of nuts (B & C ) FIG.3. Rate of uptake of moisture at 27" and 75% R.H. perg wt.
at 5.3 and 6.6% MC, respectively (but otherwise from the of fresh cashewnuts, when three groups were exposed to still air ( x )
same consignment and given the same initial drying and and moving air (0and 0)
wetting pre-treatment) were exposed one-nut deep in two x (group A) 4.1%; 0 (group B) 5.3%; 0 (group C ) 6 . 6 % M C
shallow, open metal trays in the c.t.h. room. Moisture
contents were determined after 24 hours and then after 1, 2,
3 and 4 weeks. On each occasion and for each group, two
samples each of four nuts were analysed for water and the
average M C of the eight nuts was calculated. The results Effect of differences in nut weight on moisture content
of the investigation are shown in Table 11. Finally, the data
were converted to amounts of moisture taken up by 1 g Fresh wholenuts were exposed one-nut deep in a shallow,
weight of nuts in the course of the study (Fig. 3). open tray and kept continuously in the c.t.h. room for 12-13
Fig. 3 shows that the uptake of moisture was slower in still days. Just before being split for analysis (still in the c.t.h.
air than in moving air, and that, particularly in the latter room), the nuts were weighed individually and then grouped
situation, the initial M C of the nuts tended to influence the into eight batches of four nuts each. In n o case was the
rate of moisture uptake, even though the time taken to reach weight of the batch after splitting for analysis less than 9 9 . 7 %
equilibrium M C did not appear to be affected. Thus, in still of the weight before splitting. The percentage M C of each
air, the group A nuts attained equilibrium MC in about 5 batch was determined and was taken to represent the M C of
weeks, whereas the two groups of nuts with the initial M C of an average nut in the batch. The weight of an average nut
5 . 3 and 6.6% attained equilibrium M C within a week of in a batch was then calculated from the batch weight. The
exposure to moving air. results are shown in Table 111.
J. Sci. Fd Agric., 1969, Vol. 20, December
700 Okwelogu & Mackay: Cashewnut Moisture Relations

The results suggest that in at least six out of every ten cases
differences in nut weight probably account for about a third
of the observed differences in the MC. In a further experi-
ment, using nuts from the same batch used in the previous
experiment, two groups of ten small (A) and ten large (B)
nuts were selected. Each nut was then split, and the weights
of the shell and kernel were determined. The shells of all
the large nuts were collected together, as were the kernels.
The average MC of the shell and of the kernel were then
determined. These procedures were repeated for the shell
and kernel of the small nuts. On the assumption that all the
shells and kernels were identical in all relevant respects for the
large and small nuts, respectively, the appropriate MC was
used to calculate the dry weights of the shell and kernel.
The dry weight for each nut was obtained by adding the dry
weights of the corresponding shell and kernel. Finally the
kernel/shell weight ratio ( K f )was calculated for each of the
20 nuts (Table IV).
The results suggest that in at least nine cases out of ten the
kernel/shell weight ratio tends to decrease with increasing nut
weight. They also indicate that probably a third of the
difference in the Kp values is due to differences in nut weight.
A heavy nut usually has a lower K f value than that of a lighter
nut.
TABLE
111
Relationship between the weight of a cashewnut and its MC after
exposure to moving air at 27" and 75% R.H. for 12-15 days
Nut No.
Parameter
1 2 3 4 5 6
~ ~
Wt.,g 4.0 4.4 5.4 6.3 7.5
MC, % 8.5 8.3 8.5 8.2 8.9
r = 0.58; 't' distribution = 0.9; probability = 0.38
Relationship between moisture contents of shell, wholenut and
kernel
Two sets of cashewnuts from two different consignments
were conditioned to equilibrium moisture contents. In the
first set, each of the four batches used contained eight nuts
for determination of the MC of the shell and kernel which
were analysed separately. In the second set, each of the
eight batches used (four for determination of the MC of the
shell and four for the wholenut) contained four nuts. The
results are shown in Table V.
These results show that a high wholenut or kernel MC is
closely associated with a high shell MC, and that for nuts the
MC of which are in equilibrium with the ambient R.H., the
MC of the wholenut and kernel can be predicted from that of
the shells with more than 99% confidence.
Equilibrium MC/R.H. relationship for nuts at 27"
The nuts used in this investigation were fresh 1967 Tan-
zanian crop. The average MC at the time of receipt in
Britain was found to be 13 * 1 %. The nuts were divided into
two batches. The first batch was dried to 6.3% MC, and
then divided into three portions, which were conditioned to
equilibrium MC at R.H. of 58,75 and 90 % to obtain sorption
data. The second batch of nuts was used as received,
because 13.1 % was considered to be a higher MC than
would be expected at the highest R.H. used in the desorption
experiment. These nuts were therefore dried to equilibrium
MC at 58, 71 and 81 % R.H., the MC being determined after
6, 7 and 8 weeks of conditioning, using four nuts for each
determination. A graph (Fig. 4) was drawn on which the
average percentage MC for each set of three results (Table
VI) was plotted against the corresponding R.H. No in-
dividual result differed from the average by more than 0.3 %
1 8 MC.
It was observed that, under the conditions of the investiga-
1.7 1.8 1.9 tion, nuts conditioned to relative humidities above 75 %
8.5 8.1 8.7 became mouldy within a few weeks, nuts at 90% R.H. being
the worst affected. The invading micro-organisms were
subsequently isolated and identified (Table VII).
It can be seen from Fig. 4 that the MC of the nuts corres-
ponding to 70 % R.H. (below which level they are reasonably
safe from most moulds) is 9.2%.

TABLEIV Discussion
Relationship between the nut weight and kernel/shell weight ratio The development, advantages and shortcomings of the
(Kf)in two groups of cashewnuts methods for determining the moisture content of materials by
entrainment distillation with an organic liquid immiscible
Group A Group B
Nut No.
Dry wt, g Kf Dry wt., g Kf
1 2 . .4
- 0.63 4. . 7. 0.46
TABLEV
2 2.6 0.53 5.3 0.46 Relationship between the moisture content of the shell and those of
3 2.7 0.61 5.5 0.50 the wholenut and the kernel, after conditioning the nuts to equilibrium
4 2.7 0.48 5.5 0.50 moisture contents in still air at 27" and different R.H.
5 2.8 0.50 5.6 0.53
6 3.2 0.53 5.6 0.42 MC (%) for batch number
7 3.3 0.42 5.6 0.41 Part
8 3.3 0.33 5.7 0.48 1 2 3 4
9 3.4 0.51 6.0 0.41
10 3.8 0.46 6.3 0.43 Shell ( x ) 6.8 8.2 10.1 30.5 Regression equation:
y = x - 0.5
Mean 3.0 0.50 5.6 0.45 Wholenut (y) 6.4 7.6 9.4 10.3 't' = 10.9 (P = 0.01)
~~ ~-
r -0.61 -0.585 Shell (x) 5.4 6.8 8.1 10.4 Regression equation:
't' distribution
Probability
2.11
0.07
1.99
0.09 Kernel (y)
y = 0.8 x 0.9 +
5.2 6.1 7.7 9.3 't' = 12.2 (P = 0.01)
~~ ~

J. Sci. Fd Agric., 1969, Vol. 20, December

 Okwelogu & Mackay: Cashewnut Moisture Relations 701

TABLE
VI
Average percentage equilibrium moisture contents of whole cashew
nuts at 27"
R.H., Desorption Sorption
% (from 13.1 % M C ) (from 6 . 3 % M C )
58 7.6 7.4
71 9.4 -
75 - 10.3
81 11.4 -
90 - 14.8

TABLE
VII
Micro-organisms isolated from Tanzanian cashewnuts kept at above
75 % R.H. and 27"
+ Present; - absent
Outer Between
Species of.
micro-organism surface of
shell
shell and
kernel
g:iz
+++
Aspergillus amstelodami
A . jlavus
A. japonicus
A. niger
A. sejunctus
++
Fusarium moniliforme
Paecilomyces varioti
++
Penicillium frequentans
Penicillium crustosum
++
Penicillium funiculosum -
Rhizopus arrhizus -
RELATIVE HUMIDITY, ' l o
FIG.4. Moisture contents of whole cashewnuts in equilibrium with
the ambient relative humidities at 27"
Each point represents 3 measurements with 4 whole nuts in each
0 Desorption; x sorption equilibrium M C of nuts may be reached in a much shorter
time by installing a fan in the conditioning chamber and that
for practical storage under humid tropical conditions, there
with water have been reviewed in detail by Tate & Warren.5 should be minimum ventilation in the godowns, since ex-
One chief source of inaccuracy is the loss of moisture as cessive movement of damp air around the product will tend
droplets on the sides of the condenser and receiver above the to raise its MC to undesirable levels in a relatively short time.
column of water in the trap. The magnitude of this loss was On the other hand, with the air reasonably still, the attain-
reduced by the precautions discussed previously. Neverthe- ment of high moisture contents in a large stack of adequately
less, from the experience gained in the present work, the dried nuts will be much delayed. The study under moving
permanent error in the method could be estimated at 2% of air revealed further that the lower the initial MC of the nuts,
the reading. the greater is the rate of moisture uptake, probably owing to
Reproducibility with split cashewnuts and toluene is esti- the lower vapour pressure of the water within the nut; the
mated to be within 0*3%, which agrees closely with the higher the MC, the greater is the vapour pressure of the
0.4% estimated by Esteves.6 One other difficulty with the water within the nut, and the less rapid will be the uptake.
method as recommended here for cashewnuts is the long However, the time taken to reach equilibrium did not appear
distillation time involved. This can be reduced considerably to have been greatly affected by the differences in the initial
if a reference graph (see Fig. 2) is first prepared, by means of MC.
which results obtained from a shorter distillation time can There seems to be some evidence that higher moisture
be converted to the desired end-point values. contents tend to be associated with heavier nuts. This slight
During storage in the tropics and sub-tropics, cashewnuts effect of nut size or weight appears to arise because a given
are usually subject to the effect of successions of air currents weight of shell is associated with more of the kernel tissue in
and apparently still air, at varying combinations of tempera- the small nut than it is in the large nut. About a third of the
ture and humidity. Results from the present work suggest shell is an oily cashewnut shell liquid, which is presumably
that in moving air the nuts take up moisture very rapidly in hydrophobic, while 3 8 4 7 % of the kernel is fat7 suggesting
the first 24 hours, and then very slowly until equilibrium that the kernel is more hydrophobic than the shell. Con-
moisture content is reached. In this case, equilibrium ap- sequently a higher kernel/shell weight ratio (or Kf)will
peared to have been reached within a week of exposure. tend to be accompanied by a lower M C and vice versa. It
On the other hand, under identical conditions, but with the therefore appears that the slight variations in the M C of
air apparently still, the nuts took up moisture at a steadily cashewnuts may be in some part due to variations in the
decreasing rate until equilibrium MC was reached after amount of kernel tissue associated with a given weight of
nearly five weeks. The practical implication is that the shell in a nut.
J. Sci. Fd Agric., 1969, Vol. 20, December
702 Okwelogu & Mackay: Cashewnut Moisture Relations
For cashewnuts which have been conditioned to an equili-
brium moisture content, a knowledge of the MC of the shell
has been shown to be adequate for predicting the MC of the
wholenut and of the kernel. This is of interest in developing
a moisture meter which measures only the MC of the cashew
shell and does not involve the splitting of the nut, thereby
speeding up the process of moisture determination.
It has been estimated from one of the present studies that
the equilibrium moisture content of freshly collected raw
cashewnuts is 9.2% at 70% R.H. and 27“. This figure did
not take into account the insignificant inaccuracy found to be
inherent in the method. However, provided that the pre-
scribed procedure is employed, 9 *2% may be accepted as the
MC of cashewnuts in equilibrium with 70% R.H. This level
of R.H. is about the minimum required to promote deteriora-
tion of produce by mites, most fungi and bacteria at normal
tropical temperatures. In view of the problems of repre-
sentative sampling, and because the method of determining
the MC as described here gives values reliable to within
0.3 %, the maximum MC for safeguarding fresh nuts against
attack by micro-organisms during storage should be taken as
8.9%. As it is preferable, in practice, to reject a dry batch
of nuts rather than risk accepting a wet one, this level of
acceptable MC may be lowered further.
It has been suggested8 that the maximum permissible
figure for the safe storage of oilseeds is 14% of moisture
calculated on the non-oleaginous portion of the seed. As
stated above, about 3 8 4 7 % of the cashew kernei is fat,
one-third of the wholenut is kernel, and about one-third of
the shell is a non-fatty oily liquid. Therefore, for a cashew-
nut with a kernel of the lower value of 38% oil content, the
total non-oil portion of the vYholenut would be approximately
65 %, and the calculated maximum permissible MC would be
14/100 of 65%, i.e., 9.1%. Similarly, for a nut the kernel
of which contains the higher value of 47 % oil, the total non-
oil portion of the wholenut is approximately 62%, and the
calculated maximum permissible MC would be 14/100 of
62%, i.e., 8.7%. Hence the calculated limits for the maxi-
mum ‘safe’ moisture content for raw cashewnuts is 8.7-9.1 %,
which agrees very closely with the limits established in the
present studies.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank Mr. P. I. Jobber of this
laboratory and the Commonwealth Mycological Institute,
Kew, for helping with the isolation and identification of the
microflora attacking the nuts. Grateful thanks are also due
to Dr. D. W. Hall, Head of the Centre, for valuable guidance
in the preparation of this paper.
This work was carried out following a request for informa-
tion by the National Agricultural Products Board, United
Republic of Tanzania, which supplied the nuts. This paper
is published with the permission of the Ministry of Overseas
Development.
Tropical Stored Products Centre,
(Tropical Products Institute).
Ministry of Overseas Development,
London Road,
Slough,
Bucks.
Received 3 February, 1969
References
1. Unnikrishnan, M. K., Indian Cashew J., 1967, 4, (2), 3
2 . ‘A. Rep. Agric. Div., Min. Agric. Forests Wildl.’, United
Republic of Tanzania, Part I, 1965, p. 15
3. Stokes, R. H., & Robinson, R. A., Ind. Engng Chem., 1949,
I ,- -2013
41. (9).
I7 - --
4. ‘Specifications for pesticides’, 1961 (2nd Edn.), 477, (Geneva:
World Health Organisation)
5. Tate, F. G. H., &Warren, L. A., Analysf, Lond., 1936, 61, 367
6. Esteves. A. B.. Estudos. apron.. 1961.3. (2). 59
7. Eckey, E. W.,”VegetabieTatsand oiis’,’Am.chern. SOC.Monogr.
Ser., 1954, p. 613 (New York: Reinhold Publ. Corporation)
8. Raymond, W. D., S.C.I. Monogr., No. 11,1961, p. 117 (London:
Society of Chemical Industry)
J. Sci. Fd Agric., 1969, Vol. 20, December