I tried a Mexican fruit and got third degree burns (6 photos)

A British tourist received a third-degree burn to his face after biting into a piece of exotic fruit in Mexico. "I couldn't believe I was in such pain," said 28-year-old Thomas Harold Watson.





On May 1, Watson was sightseeing in the city of Campeche on the Yucatan Peninsula. A builder from Bedfordshire was strolling through his local market when he came across a stall selling cashew apples.



"I had heard that the flesh was supposed to be bitter, but I had never tried it. So I bought a cashew apple and a few other fruits and went for a walk."





“I decided to open the fruit, it felt like a passion fruit. I bit into this bag and it immediately exploded,” Watson recalls. “Instantly there was a feeling of fire, I felt like the flames engulfed my entire mouth.”



The next day, when the man woke up, his face was covered in wounds and scabs, as if he had been doused with acid.

"My lips felt like they had melted. Even my hands were discolored from the acidity of the fruit."

The traveler had no idea that cashew fruits contain cardol and anacardic acid, a toxic cocktail that can cause blisters on contact with the skin.

When processing cashews with bare hands, factory workers suffer severe burns to their arms and hands.



Despite his painful injuries, Watson did not go to the hospital because he did not want to face a huge medical bill. Unfortunately, the recovery process turned out to be long and painful: “A couple of days ago I was able to remove the scab from my lips, it was a couple of inches wide. They are still not healed, but they already look better.”

The tourist warned: “It’s always worth trying the local cuisine, but it’s better to find out about it in advance.”