Walking With El Salvador

When I am in El Salvador, I try to cook with local ingredients and try my hand at whipping up a bit of local fare.  During the Easter holidays, we received a gift of small marañones  - cashew apples.  Of course the prized part of the marañon is the seed that hangs down below the fruit.  Some people have told me that the fruit is good for much more than animal feed, but I have seen plenty of marañones  stuck on popsicle sticks and put into the freezer as a treat for children, and I also have heard that some people make a refresco  or fresh fruit drink from the fruit.  With the gift of a small plastic bag full of small marañones  sitting in my kitchen, I decided to do a bit of research and make something with them.  I settled on a refresco. The first step was to remove the seeds from the apples.  I naively thought I could dry the seeds and maybe roast them.  After all, cashews are delicious.  However, with a little research I learned that inside the little green outer skin there i