Do cashews have a shell

Answer 1

Yes, but not a hard shell like a peanut or pistachio. Cashew nuts are an accessory fruit of the cashew tree (characterized as a drupe). They grow on the underside of a very tender fruit called a cashew apple. Although the cashew nuts don't have a hard shell, they are covered by a thin double 'shell' which contains a skin irritant called anacardic acid and urushiol. Urushiol is the same chemical the is found in poison oak, ivy, sumac, and Japanese black laqer tree.