I've bought cashew seeds from fruitlovers in Hawaii and they all germinated. I also bought some from eBay. The seeds were from India but I have a USDA permit for seeds so it was no problem. All those seeds also germinated. No need to buy seedlings because the seeds germinate and grow pretty quickly. Here is a link that might be useful: Fruit lovers

The trees were already on my place when I got it, fairly large and fruiting. Since then there's been lots more self seeded, but most I manage to find and pull up. Where I've grown them previously, from seed, they flower and fruit while still quite small. I've had them producing at about 3 years old when looked after (watered well). Don't see many trees around that are much more than 10 metres tall. As far as processing the nuts, it's quite involved and I generally don't bother unless I have visitors who want to try some. The liquid that surrounds the nuts is toxic and corrosive. What I do like though are the cashew "apples". The peduncle of the fruit swells and becomes like a fruit. They're a bit acid but I love them. Some people I've given them to hate them after they've tried.

Here is the recipe I tried today. Amish Cashew Crunch Ingredients: 1 c, butter 1 c. granulated sugar 1 tbsb light corn syrup 2 c. cashews Directions: Lightly butter a cookie sheet. In a heavy pan cook and stir the butter, sugar and corn syrup over low heat until the butter is melted and the mixture comes to a boil. Cook until it starts to turn golden brown (290 degrees F on a candy thermometer) like peanut brittle. Remove from heat. Quickly stir in cashews. Pour out onto prepared cookie sheet. Cool completely. Break up into pieces. Store in airtight container. http://www.familycookbookproject.com/view_recipesite.asp?rid=2231886&uid=28733&sid=56935 The candy turned out ok, but seemed a little to buttery almost greasy. Thinking maybe it was the butter which I used. A store brand. Will try the next batch with Land Oh Lakes butter. Used the store brand on a batch of my Dutch Almond cakes and they seemed a little to buttery also. The candy thermometer is very old. One my mom used when I was in grade school. The Christmas bag and card contained a quilt which was the last gift my mom gave to me for Christmas.....lots of good memories in the photo.

Unlike mangos, cashews flower very early. I've seen trees about waist height with flowers. Processing the cashew nuts is very labour intensive. That's why most of it is done in India and China. Elsewhere production is too costly and can't compete. There are a number of cashew plantations in Australia and there was talk of sending the fruit to India to be processed there. Not sure how they ended up, all that handling and transport would also send the cost of production up.