The Brazil nut is fascinating. Named after Brazil, it is native to the Amazon basin and has long been an important staple food of the indigenous people. The nut was first exported to Europe in the 17th century and came to the United States in the early 1800s. Today, the Brazil nut is a popular snack, often found in mixed nuts products. However, attempts to establish commercial plantations outside of South America have failed, making Brazil nuts the only commercial nuts produced exclusively in the Amazon rainforest. Almost all of the nuts come from wild trees, taste like coconut and macadamia, and can be eaten raw or roasted. Here are some other interesting facts about the Brazil nut.
Part Of The Monkey Pot Family
The Brazil nut belongs to the “Monkey Pot” family (Lecythidaceae) family of plants, named after the genus Lecythis, which contains many tropical trees commonly known as “monkey pot.” These fruits are about the size of a coconut and are shaped like a little pot with a cap. As the fruit ripens, the cap falls off revealing the nuts inside surrounded by a mucilage material. Monkeys like to stick their hands in the “pots” to get the mucilage of the fruit.
Brazil nut fruits themselves are more like large husky coconuts than little pots. They are 4 to 6 inches in diameter and have a hard, woody exterior. Inside the fruits are 10 to 25 Brazil nuts arranged like orange sections, each encased in its own shell.
Brazil Nut Trees are HUGE
The Brazil nut trees are giants! These evergreen trees grow to be up to 100 feet tall (23 -30 m( and higher, sometimes up to 165 feet. The diameter of the trunk can reach up to 8 feet. The trees are also long-lived and often live 1000 years or more. One Brazil nut tree was found to be 1600 years old.
Brazil Nut Harvesting is Dangerous
Collecting Brazil nuts is dangerous! The fruits can weigh up to 6 pounds (2.7 kg) and when the fruit is mature they fall to the ground from as high as 100 feet (30 m) or more. They reach a velocity of 900 feet per minute and can easily kill a person standing underneath. They fall so fast that they sometimes plant themselves in the ground. People who gather them learn to not stand under the trees on windy or rainy days when the nuts are more likely to fall.
In the Amazon basin, it is common to find people and animals who have been injured by falling Brazil nut fruits. Of course, falling Brazil nuts are probably the least of your worries when working in the Amazon Basin, a very dangerous place indeed.
The Nuts Are Like Little Candles
Brazil nuts are chock-full of fat. 70% of the nut is oil. This is so much oil that if you hold a flame to one they will burn like little candles. So, if you ever find yourself in a survival situation in the Amazon basin, an area 8 times the size of California, you can use Brazil nuts as a great fire starter. Indigenous people extract the oil from the nuts to use in oil lamps.
The Agoutis Rodents and Poison Arrow Frogs
Humans, of course, use tools to break open the tough exterior husk of the Brazil nut fruit. Otherwise, the only animal that can do it is the agouti, brown rodents the size of a cat. They use their strong and sharp teeth to break open the fruits. They also gather as many as they can find and bury them like squirrels. Sometimes, humans are out of luck because the agouti have taken all the Brazil nuts.
Dendrobates castaneoticus, aka “the Brazil Nut Poison Frog,” is a little black frog with stripes and orange spots. The tadpoles of the frogs often live in water collected in the shells broken open by agoutis. These frogs are a type of poison arrow (or poison dart) frog native to the rainforests of Central and South America. Natives use poison from the skin of the frogs to poison their hunting arrows or blow-gun darts. Interestingly, when these poison frogs are kept in zoos, their skin often loses its toxicity. It seems that their ability to remain poisonous depends on eating their natural diet. 1Small, Ernest. Top 100 Food Plants. Canada, NRC Research Press, 2009.
Eating Too Many Brazil Nuts Is Dangerous
Brazil nuts contain a lot of selenium, an essential trace element. They contain so much of this mineral, up to 250 times more than other plant foods, that it is advised to not eat more than 2 to 4 nuts a day due to potential toxicity.
Why You Should Not Eat More Than 2 to 4 Brazil Nuts a Day
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