Cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) is a liquid with a dark brown color in the soft honeycomb structure of the cashew nut shell, which is the by-product of the processing industry of the cashew nut. In this study, the enzyme-assisted aqueous extraction (EAAE) method was used to extract CNSL. The effect of several parameters such as water/material ratio, enzyme/material ratio, time and temperature for enzyme incubation on the oil yield was examined. The results indicated that the suitable conditions to extract CNSL were 6 mL water/g cashew nut shell (CNS),15 mL enzyme/g CNS for 2 h at 50 °C. Extracting oil was compared with commercial oil by polyphenol content and antioxidant capacity. The suitable conditions for oil release were found with the water-CNS ratio of 6 mL/g, and enzyme/CNS of 15 µL/g in 2 h of enzyme incubation at 50 °C. The polyphenol oil content of EAAE was 130.90 ± 3.86 µg/mg of GAE and the IC50 value was 734 µg/mL. The EAAE method increased CNSL extraction efficiency and the content of polyphenol compounds compared to commercial oil extracted by traditional methods.
