BRAZIL NUTS

Brazil nuts are native to the pristine forests along the Amazon and the Orinoco.

Brazil nuts have been a part of the human diet for nearly 11,000 years, with the first known account in Western scriptures in 1566.

Culinary: Chopped Brazil nuts can be added to salads and other dishes to achieve a crunchy delight. The nuts can be processed into non-dairy milk or vegan flour, which can be added to other types of flour to increase their nutritional value and achieve a nutty flavour. Brazil nuts are delicious with fresh seasoning, sea salt and roasted in the oven. The nuts are a common ingredient in no-bake vegan desserts, as well as baked desserts, such as biscuits.

Brazil nuts grow on trees from the genus Bertholletia, which can reach several tens of metres in height and were named after the French chemist Claude Louis Berthollet. Brazil nuts are actually the seeds from round and oval capsule-like fruits about the size of a man’s hand with a hard shell. After maturation, the fruit falls to the ground and is then gathered and sorted by so-called “castañeros”.

Most fruit is harvested in the wild and are not cultivated in plantations. The harvesting of Brazil nuts takes place from December to March.

The largest exporter of Brazil nuts is Bolivia.

Botanically speaking, Brazil nuts are more closely related to blueberries and persimmon, than for example, walnuts or pecans.

The fruit, which can weight up to 2.5 kilograms, fall to the ground from very tall trees, reaching a speed of up to 100km/h.

Even though the Portuguese and the Spaniards were the first European nations to discover Brazil nuts; it was the Dutch merchants who first brought them to Europe in the early 17th century.