The Aldi Coconut Cashews Reddit Is Calling 'Addictive And Naughty'
Cashews are one peculiar nut — oh wait, did I say nut? Like me, you might have just assumed all this time that cashews are nuts because they resemble a lot of other foods that are classified as nuts and are even lumped together in jars of mixed nuts; but it turns out that cashews are actually a fruit, a seed of the cashew apple (per Business Insider).
Another odd fact about cashews is that in their unprocessed, raw form cashews contain a toxic oil called urushiol, the itchy irritant that makes plants such as poison ivy and poison oak the ones that you want to avoid when hiking through the woods. It can give you a skin rash and cause inflammation and general discomfort. However, cashews undergo a process of drying and roasting or steaming to remove the urushiol (via Healthline).
Once stripped of urushiol, cashews can be good for you in moderation, providing a protein-packed snack that's also a source of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants. But because of their high oxalate content, eating too much of them may cause kidney stones (per MedicineNet). It's a risk/reward as with many foods, but people still love their cashews. And Reddit thinks it has found a winner in Aldi coconut cashews so it's spreading the word.
Once you pop Aldi's coconut cashews, you can't stop
User Cashcash1998 posted a picture of a bag of Aldi coconut cashews to the Reddit thread r/aldi with the caption "These coconut cashews from Aldi are delicious! Lightly sweet and coconut-y." Most fellow Redditors were in accord, though they cautioned that the pleasing taste also posed a threat — and not one associated with urushiol or kidney stones.
"Not good: because they are addictive and naughty," offered a commenter. Others confessed that once they started popping the coconut cashews, they couldn't stop. "I thought I would take a break from my almonds, and do cashews for a week, and got these. Not much of a healthy snack when I consume the whole bag in a sitting," acknowledged AF_Fresh. Another person admitted, "I cannot buy these anymore because they're too damn good."
One contributor said that although they're a little too sweet for them to eat on their own, they have used them in cooking a Thai basil chicken dish that substitutes the coconut cashews for plain cashews. Not everyone agreed about the lightly sweet designation though. OukewlDave described them as "disgustingly sweet." Hey, everyone's taste buds are different. Your notion of too sweet may be someone else's just right and vice versa. Find the flavor of cashew nut — er, I mean fruit — that works best for you.