Trader Joe's New Nuts Are A Cashew Lover's Dream

Cashews are worth celebrating. After all, it's pretty amazing that something related to toxic plants could be not only edible but delicious. As Scientific American notes, cashews are part of the same family of trees –- anacardiaceaeas, aka the cashew family –- as poison ivy and poison oak, which all share a naturally occurring toxin called urushiol.

Yep, the same thing that makes you burst out in a rash is also found on the popular snack nut. Cashews are processed and roasted to remove the urushiol oil found on their shells, which is one of the reasons, as Business Insider observes, that they can be so expensive. Another reason is that, unlike many other nuts, cashews are only harvested once annually.

So cashews already have some unique features. But Trader Joe's new cashews are special in another sense. Not only do they have all the flavor and health benefits of regular cashews (cashews are beneficial to heart health and rich in fiber, vitamins, and minerals, according to Healthline,) but they also have extra flavor courtesy of another added ingredient.

Trader Joe's new cashews include cashew butter, which, according to the company, is used as a coating that adds both flavor and texture. The product description says each batch is made "by coating honey roasted cashews in a thick layer of creamy cashew butter, which itself is dotted by bits of crushed cashews. Each bite has a satisfying mix of soft and crunchy textures, as well as sweet and lightly salty flavors."

Trader Joe's new cashew butter cashews are priced at $4.99 per 8-ounce bag, with each 160-calorie serving dishing up 4 grams of protein and 4.5 grams of saturated fat (11 grams of total fat). According to WebMD, cashews are a healthy source of both fats and protein, and Healthline notes that the unsaturated fats found in cashews are linked to reduced risks of heart disease — all great reasons for cashew lovers to go out and try this new product.