San Pedro Sun :: Crooked Tree celebrates it’s native fruit, the Cashew..

"The Cashew Festival, traditionally held in the first weekend in May each year, celebrates Crooked Tree’s favorite product and local village life. There is live music, consumption of a variety of delicious Caribbean dishes, lots of local games and the telling of stories; Cashew Fest 2007 was a real indulgence for tourists and locals alike.

Held last weekend, the trip to the mainland took The San Pedro Sun on a road trip where all signs pointed a quaint little village called “Crooked Tree” in the Belize District. A short 33-mile trip north of Belize City, sandwiched by two lagoons and topped by a few creeks lays

A visit to this little jewel will amazeanyone. The sight of huge mango, breadfruit and cashew trees, to name a few,are as old as the village itself. The scentsemanating from the various fruits per-meate through the air at the fruits’ vari-ous seasons. From the end of April and throughout May, Crooked Tree Village smells of cashew fruits. Soil testing indifferent parts of Belize show thatCrooked Tree has the best soil for grow-ing cashews. In freak storms when theyare laden with fruits, they topple overand still keep growing.

The cashew fruit comes in yellow,red, and some are even a hybrid of bothbright colors. When the fruit is ripe, it’svery sweet and it is comprised about 75%juice.

The nut, attached on the outside ofthe fruit, contains a toxic acid in its outershell. Crooked Tree Village proudly produces various by-products of both the fruit and nuts. Villagers produce fine wines from the fruit, as well as, jams, jellies, juices, vinegar, preserves, syrups and lately, pastries. Fudge with cashew nuts as well as cookies and cakes are among some of the pastries which are prepared.The nut is a more lengthy process one which requires a certain amount of patience. It is roasted over a blazing fire of resinous Caribbean Pine, after which it is broken out of its outer shell and finally each nut is baked in an oven or on fire coals, in a baking drum. It is a very time consuming and tiresome job so cashews will never be cheap.

During the dry season, the lagoons shrink in size creating a high concentration of fish and thus a banquet feast for thousands of birds, including the famous jabiru stork. No matter what time of year, however, a trip to Crooked Tree yields a pleasant experience with friendly,local people and natural beauty.

Cashew Fest all started with one man’s vision … one man who thought to himself that his village could potentially be self sustaining. It is this one dream that drove Rudolph Crawford to send several businesses in the United States of America bags of cashew nuts. A businessman from Arkansas, tasted the nuts,found them to be excellent and contacted the then Chairman of Crooked Tree Village. Through both their efforts, the cashew nuts have slowly been exported to the US. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been enough to be a livelihood for the entire village.."

Crooked Tree Village Reunion: http://www.crookedtreevillagereunion.com