This fruit comes from the Northeastern region of Brazil, and it was exported by the Portuguese as early as 1550. The name Caju comes from the Tupi word “acaju” which means “nut that produces itself” but it also refers to “year” or “age”, since there were tribes that told their age by the completion of the cycles of flowering and harvest of the caju trees. Warriors from far off tribes would make the yearly journey to the Northeastern coast and wage war with the local tribes for the right to harvest the fruits. And during the Dutch colonization of the region, the knocking down of a caju tree was punishable with a heavy fine.