They didn't have cashews in Afro-Eurasia before the 16th century, of course. But I have seen the word 'cashew' appear in recent English translations of medieval South Asian literary texts. I wrote about this issue a couple of years ago on my old blog: indomedieval.medium.com/translators-...

Translators Beware!

This piece appeared on my Patreon account way back in 2022. I thought I’d move it here so that it would be more accessible.

Back in early modern Brazil, and certainly before Europeans got there as well, cashew apples (the fruits) were fermented to make alcoholic beverages. People ate the fruits too, and the nuts, but the main function of the cashew tree in Brazil c.1500 seems to have been booze production.