A British visitor to Mexico sustained third-degree burns all over his face after biting into an unusual fruit. According to a story in the New York Post, Thomas Harold Watson claimed that he was in excruciating pain while touring the Campeche region of the Yucatan peninsula.
“I could not believe the pain just from biting into one case,” the 28-year-old said, about the incident which occurred on May 1. The worker from Bedfordshire was walking at a nearby market when he spotted a stall selling cashew apples, the fruits that are stuffed with the nut of the same name. Mr Watson, who regularly posts updates from his travels on Instagram, decided to try the fruit after learning that it was edible.
“You can eat the cashew apple fruit, it’s meant to be a bit bitter. I’d heard about it but never tried it in the flesh, so I bought it, went for a walk and started eating a few different fruits,” he said.
He said, “I thought I’d open it up – it felt like a passion fruit, and I bit into this sac which exploded straight away,” describing his first bite. It felt like fire right away, and I could feel it licking my mouth.” But when he woke up the next day, trouble started. His face looked like it had been doused with acid; it was very burned and “scabby”.
“When my lips were all burnt they literally felt like they’d be dissolved, it felt like my lip had gone like baking paper for three or four days,” he recalled, adding that his hands were also discoloured.
Mr Watson later used Google search to understand the hazard. Notably, the caustic combination of cardol and anacardic acid found in cashew fruit can result in blisters when it comes into contact with the skin.
Even then, the 28-year-old did not go to the hospital because he did not want to pay a hefty medical bill. He said that the recovery process is still painful. “A couple of days ago I was able to peel off my whole lip, it was a couple of inches wide. They’re still quite burnt up and not great but way better than they were.”
“It’s always good to eat local foods but I guess it’s also good to have a bit of knowledge about them,” he said.
