Food Unwrapped

Cashew, Scampi and Salt (2x3)

: 17, 2013

The team ask: Why are cashew nuts never on the supermarket shelf in their shells? What exactly is scampi? Does expensive salt taste different to cheap salt? Kate Quilton heads into the Mozambique countryside to find out why - unlike walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds - cashews aren't sold in their shells. She learns that cracking a cashew nut in its shell can do serious harm and getting a cashew safe to handle is a huge process. But the team also discover that an extract from the shell can have an extremely high value and could potentially be of great use to medical science and the war against superbugs. Jimmy Doherty's voyage of discovery to find out more about pub-favourite scampi and its processed cousin scampi bites gets off to a stormy start as he's sea sick on a Scottish trawler. He soon discovers that not all scampi is made equal. After carrying out DNA tests on a range of scampi products, Jimmy finds a surprising foreign body in this great British classic that takes him to some unexpected places. And why pay 20 times more for one type of salt than another? Matt Tebbutt learns how sea salt is harvested and finds out if the difference in taste is worth the price.