Cashew processing has its own dense vocabulary, and a surprising amount of it gets used loosely, inconsistently, or without explanation across the industry’s marketing material — “outturn” and “kernel recovery rate” get conflated, grade names get quoted without saying which standard they come from, and terms like “scooping” or “borma dryer” show up in vendor catalogues with no definition at all for a reader encountering the industry for the first time. This glossary exists to fix that: every term below gets a genuine, standalone definition — long enough to actually explain the concept, not just name it — organised into three groups that mirror how the industry itself divides the subject: the mechanics of processing, the standards that determine what a kernel is worth, and the trade and compliance language that governs how it crosses borders.
Processing Terms
This group covers the physical, stage-by-stage mechanics of turning a raw cashew nut into a graded kernel — the vocabulary you need to read a machinery spec sheet, follow a factory-floor conversation, or understand what a specific machine in a processing line is actually doing. Most cashew processing content skips straight to grading and trade language without ever explaining these upstream mechanical terms clearly, which is exactly the gap this section is meant to close.
RCN (Raw Cashew Nut) — The unprocessed cashew nut in its outer shell, as harvested from the tree and before any shelling or peeling has taken place. RCN is the traded commodity that moves from origin countries — Côte d’Ivoire, Tanzania, Guinea-Bissau, and dozens of others — to processing hubs like India and Vietnam, and it’s the basis for HS code 0801.31 in customs classification.
Steaming — A pretreatment stage that softens the cashew shell under pressurised steam before shelling, making the shell easier to cut mechanically without transmitting excessive force into the kernel inside. Steaming time and pressure are tuned to nut size, moisture content, and the specific shelling equipment downstream, and getting this stage wrong is one of the single most common upstream causes of a plant’s kernel breakage problem — long before the shelling machine itself is even the culprit.
Shelling — The mechanical or manual process of cutting the softened outer shell to expose and release the kernel inside. Shelling is the stage most responsible for kernel breakage rate industry-wide, and it’s where the gap between a well-calibrated machine running within its intended nut-size range and a poorly-calibrated one shows up most dramatically in a plant’s actual yield numbers.
Kernel breakage rate — The percentage of kernels coming out of shelling (or a later stage) that end up broken rather than whole, measured against total kernel output. It directly determines how much of a plant’s production falls into lower-value broken-piece grades rather than premium whole-kernel grades, making it arguably the single most economically significant number tracked on any processing line.
Kernel recovery rate — The percentage of a raw nut’s total starting weight that converts into usable kernel after shelling and peeling are both complete. It’s a distinct measure from outturn: kernel recovery rate captures the physical yield ratio directly, while outturn is the traditional trading convention (pounds of kernel per bag of RCN) built on top of that same underlying physical yield.
Scooping — The manual or mechanised step of removing the shelled kernel from the cut outer shell casing immediately after shelling. How gently and efficiently scooping is done affects both the plant’s breakage rate and how much usable kernel gets left behind, discarded along with the shell.
Humidification chamber — Equipment that reintroduces controlled moisture into dried kernels before peeling, so the papery testa skin can be removed without cracking or damaging the kernel underneath it. It sits directly between the borma dryer and the peeling stage in a standard processing sequence, and skipping or rushing this step is a common, avoidable cause of peeling-stage breakage.
Peeling — The stage that removes the thin testa skin from a shelled, humidified kernel, done either by hand or mechanically via brushes, rollers, or friction drums depending on the plant’s scale and automation level. Mechanised peeling trades labour cost savings for a real risk of kernel damage if the equipment isn’t correctly calibrated to the specific nut-size distribution being run through it.
Testa — The thin, papery, reddish-brown skin covering a raw kernel immediately after shelling — botanically a seed coat, not unlike the skin on a peanut. It must be fully removed during peeling for the kernel to meet standard trading grades, with a narrow, deliberate exception for specialty skin-on (“testa-on”) roasted products.
Borma dryer — A named class of drying equipment used after steaming and shelling to bring kernel moisture down to a stable, storable level ahead of humidification and peeling. Borma dryer design and airflow consistency have a direct effect on both energy cost per ton processed and the quality of peeling downstream.
Roasting — A downstream flavour and texture process applied to graded kernels, typically after peeling and grading are already complete, using dry heat, oil, or steam depending on the target finished product. Roasting is a distinct value-add stage from primary processing, and it’s where much of a kernel’s final consumer-facing flavour profile actually gets determined.
CNSL (Cashew Nut Shell Liquid) — A dark, viscous, phenolic liquid held in the honeycomb structure of the cashew shell, extracted as a by-product of shelling rather than from the kernel itself. Industrial CNSL is used in brake linings, resins, paints, and coatings, and increasingly as a biofuel additive — see the full CNSL industrial applications guide for extraction methods and current market sizing.
Turnkey plant — A complete processing line engineered, supplied, installed, and commissioned by a single vendor under one contracted package, as opposed to a buyer sourcing individual machines from multiple manufacturers and integrating them independently. Turnkey contracts simplify accountability considerably but concentrate risk in a single vendor’s overall capability.
Grading & Quality Terms
This group covers the vocabulary that determines what a batch of kernels is actually worth — the grading systems, standards bodies, and quality descriptors that translate a physical processing outcome into a price. Grading terminology gets confused more than almost anything else in cashew trade writing, largely because several overlapping standards (AFI, ISO, UNECE) use different logic, and most content online quotes grade names without ever explaining which standard they’re drawn from.
Grading — The process of sorting finished kernels into standardised size, colour, and quality categories for trading purposes, based on internationally codified specifications such as AFI, ISO 6477, or UNECE DDP-17 — see the full grading standards explainer for how these three systems relate to each other. Grading determines the price a given lot of kernels can command far more than raw output volume alone ever does.
Colour sorting — An optical or increasingly AI-based sorting stage that automatically separates kernels by colour and surface defect using cameras and machine-learning classification, ejecting discoloured or damaged pieces from the whole-kernel stream. See the AI and computer vision sorting guide for named technology and current accuracy benchmarks.
Outturn — The traditional trading measure of kernel yield from a given quantity of raw cashew nut, historically expressed as pounds of kernel recovered per 80-kilogram bag of RCN. Outturn is the basis for most raw-material pricing formulas used when buying RCN directly from origin markets — see the outturn calculation formula for the working method.
W180 / W210 / W240 / W320 / W450 grades — The whole-kernel size grades defined under AFI (Association of Food Industries) specifications, numbered approximately by kernel count per pound. A lower number means larger, fewer kernels per pound and generally a meaningfully higher price per kilogram; these are the most commonly quoted grades in day-to-day cashew trading, though they originate specifically from the US-market AFI rulebook rather than from ISO 6477 or UNECE DDP-17.
SW (Scorched Wholes) — A whole-kernel grade in which the kernels are structurally intact but show surface discolouration from the steaming or drying process, placing them below the premium white-whole grades in value despite being physically unbroken. SW kernels are typically routed to roasted or flavoured products, where slight colour variation isn’t treated as a defect.
LWP (Large White Pieces) — A broken-kernel grade covering white (undiscoloured) kernel fragments above a defined minimum size threshold, distinguishing them from smaller piece grades. LWP commands a meaningfully higher price than smaller broken grades because it remains usable in visible retail applications rather than being restricted to baking or confectionery blending.
AFI Specifications — The grading and trading rulebook published by the US-based Association of Food Industries, and the direct source of the familiar W180 through W450, SW, and LWP grade names used throughout the industry. See the AFI specifications page for the detail. AFI specifications are the primary US-market reference, but they’re used informally as shorthand well beyond the US alone.
ISO 6477 — ISO 6477:1988, “Cashew Kernels — Specification,” is the internationally codified grading standard maintained by the International Organization for Standardization, defining 24 kernel grades along with moisture limits and sampling and test methods. It was reconfirmed as recently as 2024 and remains the active global reference standard, even though many sites informally treat AFI’s W-series grades as if they were ISO grades.
UNECE DDP-17 — The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe’s Standard DDP-17 for Cashew Kernels, adopted in 2012 with input from the International Nut and Dried Fruit Council, and the standard most European buyers actually cite in contracts. It covers presentation types, a 5% moisture ceiling, three quality tiers, sizing, and defect tolerances.
Moisture content — The percentage of water by weight in raw or processed cashew kernels, tightly controlled at every processing and storage stage. Moisture running too high directly increases aflatoxin risk and shortens shelf life; moisture running too low can make kernels brittle and more prone to breakage during ordinary handling and transport.
Aflatoxin — A carcinogenic toxin produced by certain moulds, primarily Aspergillus species, that can develop on cashew during improper drying or storage, and one of the most tightly regulated contaminants in international cashew trade. See the EU import compliance guide for the specific numeric limits that apply depending on whether kernels require further sorting or are ready for direct consumption.
Trade & Compliance Terms
This group covers the language of getting kernels across a border and into a buyer’s hands — the pricing conventions and customs classification that every export contract runs on, regardless of grade or origin. These terms are simple individually but frequently get used inconsistently in casual trade conversation, which is exactly where genuine misunderstandings between buyer and seller tend to originate.
HS Code — The Harmonized System customs classification code used by every country’s customs authority to identify and tariff traded goods. Raw cashew nuts are classified under HS 0801.31 and shelled kernels under HS 0801.32, though national tariff schedules sometimes add further country-specific sub-splits beneath these two base codes.
FOB (Free on Board) — A trade term under which the seller’s responsibility and cost end once goods are loaded onto the shipping vessel at the origin port, after which the buyer assumes freight cost, insurance, and risk for the remainder of the journey. FOB is the most commonly quoted price basis in both raw cashew nut and kernel trading.
CFR (Cost and Freight) — A trade term under which the seller pays for shipping the goods to the destination port in addition to the cost of the goods themselves, but the buyer still assumes risk and insurance responsibility once goods are loaded at origin. CFR sits between FOB and CIF in how much cost and responsibility the seller absorbs on the buyer’s behalf.
CIF (Cost, Insurance and Freight) — A trade term under which the seller covers the cost of goods, shipping, and marine insurance through to the destination port, giving the buyer the least logistical responsibility of the three common terms. CIF pricing is often used when a buyer wants a single, all-in landed-cost figure to compare directly against domestic sourcing alternatives.