Cashews occupy a unique and almost entirely negative position in Aajonus Vonderplanitz's framework. Unlike other nuts, which, while not ideal for fat digestion, can still contribute digestible starch when properly prepared, cashews are categorically excluded from the Primal Diet as a practical food. This exclusion is not based on the nutritional profile of the cashew itself, but on the irreversible processing that every commercially available cashew has necessarily undergone before it ever reaches any consumer, whether in a health food store, a raw food market, or any other retail outlet. Aajonus's position is that there is no such thing as a commercially available raw cashew, because the physical structure of the cashew shell makes it impossible to extract the nut without a process that he identifies as radiation, specifically laser irradiation, which renders every cashew on the market indigestible and harmful.

In the broader Primal Diet framework, nuts occupy a specific and limited role. They are not prized for their fat content, Aajonus was explicit that nut oils are nearly impossible for humans to digest, with perhaps two percent utilization at most. They are not prized for their protein either. Their value is almost entirely in the starch fraction. That starch, when properly prepared, ground into a flour and combined with fat, eggs, and honey, can bind with toxic chemicals, excess hormones, and acrylamides circulating in the bloodstream. Within that limited but specific therapeutic role, cashews cannot participate because they are irradiated and therefore indigestible. They cause indigestion, sit in the stomach undigested, and fail to deliver the starch-binding function that makes other properly prepared nuts valuable.

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Aajonus described the core problem with cashews in terms of what happens to the nut's internal structure as a result of the laser-blasting process used to open the shell. His explanation centers on the concept of irradiation and its effects on digestibility.

The cashew shell is described as the hardest and thickest nut shell in existence. He called it "the hardest, thickest nut in the world." Because of this extreme structural density, the shell resists conventional mechanical opening. Machines designed to crack or split cashew shells are destroyed in the process, Aajonus stated that he had personally seen the machines that were torn up attempting mechanical extraction. Because mechanical extraction is not viable at commercial scale, the industry moved to laser-based extraction. A laser beam is fired into the shell, which heats the interior of the nut and causes an explosive decompression or explosion from within, splitting the shell open.

The result of this process, according to Aajonus, is that the cashew itself is irradiated. The laser beam does not simply heat the shell, it penetrates and affects the internal structure of the nut. This irradiation is what makes cashews indigestible. The irradiation alters or destroys whatever properties of the nut would make it digestible, leaving behind a food that sits in the stomach unprocessed.

The specific digestive consequence Aajonus identified is indigestion. He stated plainly: "most people who eat them get indigestion. They can't digest it. It just sits in the stomach." The food is labeled "raw" in stores and marketed as such, but Aajonus called this a lie. His position is unambiguous, "They say raw and it's a lie."

This is a point of particular emphasis. Within Aajonus's broader critique of the raw food industry and labeling deceptions, cashews serve as a specific, detailed example. The term "raw" on a cashew product does not reflect the actual processing that the nut has undergone. The irradiation step is not disclosed to consumers, is not understood by most raw food advocates or sellers, and results in a product that, despite the label, cannot function the way an unprocessed raw nut would function in the body.

Within his framework of what nuts do in the body: nut oils are almost impossible for humans to digest, approximately two percent digestion at best. Nut proteins are similarly largely indigestible via normal human digestive processes. The starch fraction is the primary fraction that humans can extract from nuts, and this requires grinding the nut to flour and combining it with fat and other specific ingredients. However, in the case of cashews, the irradiation has compromised the nut to the point where even this starch fraction cannot be properly accessed or utilized. The result is that the cashew simply occupies space in the stomach, triggering indigestion, without delivering any of the nutritional value it nominally contains.

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There is, according to Aajonus, no accessible truly raw cashew form available through commercial channels. This is the most important point about cashew form and state on the Primal Diet. Every cashew that a consumer can obtain, regardless of what the label says, regardless of where it is purchased, regardless of whether it is sold in a health food store, a raw food market, a specialty outlet, or claimed to come from a specific country of origin with a specific processing method, has been laser-blasted to open the shell and is therefore irradiated.

Aajonus drew a direct comparison to macadamia nuts to illustrate what "truly raw" looks like in contrast. Macadamia nuts may be heated on the outside to temperatures up to 100 to 110 degrees Fahrenheit during their drying and shelling process, but the interior typically does not exceed 105 degrees Fahrenheit, which he considered acceptable, within the threshold for maintaining the food in a biologically active, usable state. The cutoff he specified for macadamias is that they must be dried at temperatures below 104 degrees Fahrenheit (he also cites "below 96 degrees" in one context), and ideally obtained from someone who has them in the shell so that the buyer can process them personally. This is explicitly contrasted with cashews, where there is no equivalent option, the shell cannot be opened without the laser process, so there is no path to a truly raw cashew.

He also noted that even obtaining macadamias in this truly raw state is very difficult. You would need to find somebody who has them in the shell and do the drying yourself, because commercial macadamia processors kiln-dry them at temperatures that exceed the safe threshold. The point of this contrast is to underscore that the cashew problem is not merely about finding a better supplier or a better source country, it is structural and inherent to the cashew's physical characteristics.

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The sourcing situation for cashews is presented as having no resolution. There is no preparation method that can rehabilitate a laser-irradiated cashew, and there is no sourcing pathway that avoids the irradiation step.

Aajonus directly engaged with the claims of raw food advocate David Wolfe (referred to in the transcripts as "David Wolf"), who claimed to have truly mechanically shelled cashews sourced from Indonesia. Aajonus's response was detailed and skeptical:

First, Aajonus acknowledged having seen the machines that attempt to mechanically shell cashews, and having seen those machines destroyed in the process. The hardness and thickness of the cashew shell is such that the mechanical shelling machinery cannot withstand the forces required, and the machines are torn apart. This is the physical reason the industry abandoned mechanical extraction in favor of laser extraction.

Second, even if a mechanical process were used, Aajonus noted that the nuts must be dried in their shell first, in order for the shell to split and crack more easily. So even a supposedly mechanical process involves a prior drying step that itself may compromise the nut.

Third, regarding David Wolfe's specific claims about Indonesia: Aajonus stated he did not believe Wolfe's assertion, because Wolfe himself had not personally investigated the processing facilities. Wolfe was simply trusting what he was told by suppliers. Aajonus stated: "David Wolf doesn't know what he's talking about. If he'd go to these places and see the process, he would change his mind. But he believes what they tell him." He went further, noting that he had caught Wolfe being inaccurate on two or three other matters, not because Wolfe was deliberately dishonest but because "he was too trustful" and "he didn't search it out the way I did."

Aajonus expressed some small theoretical allowance, "He could be right, but I'd have to see it to believe it", but made clear that without direct verification, and given Wolfe's unwillingness to provide him the underlying supply chain information, he did not accept the claim. In practice, his conclusion remains that cashews are out.

The quote that captures his final practical position: "cashews are out to secure it. You can't get them through the rock."

There is no preparation protocol presented for cashews, because preparation is not a solution to the irradiation problem. The damage is done at the processing stage, before any consumer ever encounters the nut.

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Because cashews are contraindicated and excluded from the Primal Diet, there is no nut formula or therapeutic protocol presented for cashews specifically. However, the context in which Aajonus discusses cashews is always the nut formula, his starch delivery system using ground nuts combined with fat and other ingredients.

The nut formula pairing requirements are discussed extensively in relation to the nuts that replace cashews. The fat pairing, specifically butter as the primary fat, is described as mandatory for the nut formula regardless of which acceptable nut is used. This is because grinding nuts into flour alone leaves the phytic acid active and the starch inaccessible; adding fat (especially butter) and honey neutralizes the phytic acid and allows the starch to be digested and utilized for its blood-cleansing, hormone-binding function.

There is one passage in the transcripts where Aajonus appears to include cashews in a list of acceptable soft nuts: "you can eat a nut formula, and what you do is take the softer nuts, the ones that are more digestible, cashews, I mean, yeah, cashews are okay, pine nuts, pecans, and walnuts." This statement conflicts directly with his many other, more fully elaborated statements that cashews are irradiated and indigestible. It may represent a verbal slip or an incomplete thought interrupted mid-sentence (note "cashews, I mean, yeah", suggesting he may have been self-correcting in real time), or it may reflect a moment in which he was speaking loosely. All other passages on cashews are unambiguous in their exclusion. Both versions are preserved here per documentation requirements.

In all other formulations of the nut formula, the soft nuts identified are: pecans, walnuts, pine nuts, sunflower seeds, filberts/hazelnuts, and pumpkin seeds (for those with a very good liver). Cashews are not listed in these formulations.

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There are no culinary applications for cashews presented by Aajonus. They are not incorporated into any recipe, sauce, or food preparation in his framework.

One passing reference appears to Thai cuisine, where nut pastes (typically peanut-based) are used as meat sauces. Aajonus acknowledged that the Primal Diet version of a nut sauce for meat is acceptable if made according to his nut formula guidelines, but this refers to pecans, walnuts, or other acceptable soft nuts, not cashews.

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The cashew discussion is embedded within a broader critique of food labeling deception and the raw food industry's failure to properly investigate its supply chains.

The "Raw" Label Fraud: Aajonus was emphatic that cashews sold as "raw" are not raw in any meaningful sense. The irradiation step, laser-blasting, is concealed from consumers. Health food stores, raw food retailers, and raw food advocates all participate in this deception, not necessarily through deliberate fraud but through ignorance and failure to investigate. The consumer purchasing a bag of "raw cashews" at any store in America is buying irradiated food.

David Wolfe and the Indonesia Claim: This is one of the most detailed documented critiques Aajonus offered of another raw food figure. David Wolfe (referred to as "David Wolf" in the transcripts) claimed to source truly mechanically shelled cashews from Indonesia. Aajonus's documented response:

1. He had personally seen the machines destroyed by attempting mechanical cashew shelling. The physical impossibility is something he witnessed directly.

2. Wolfe had not personally visited the Indonesian processing facilities. He was relying on what his suppliers told him.

3. Aajonus had identified Wolfe as being inaccurate on two or three other claims, not from dishonesty but from insufficient investigation and excessive trust in suppliers.

4. Wolfe refused to provide Aajonus with the underlying sourcing information that would allow independent verification.

5. Aajonus left a small theoretical opening ("He could be right, but I'd have to see it to believe it") but maintained his practical conclusion that cashews are not usable.

The broader principle Aajonus was making: even within the raw food community, figures with large followings and significant commercial interests were not doing the ground-level investigative work necessary to verify supply chain claims. Aajonus distinguished himself by having personally visited processing facilities, having seen the machines, and having tracked the process through direct observation rather than trusting what he was told.

This case is part of his larger critique of commercial health food industry deception, the same framework he applied to Whole Foods Market's "All Natural" meat labeling, organic produce percentage deceptions, and other cases where marketing language diverged from reality in ways harmful to consumers trying to make good choices.

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