Brazil nuts: extraordinarily crunchy | Seeberger GmbH
Brazil Nuts Shelled
Product information
In contrast to all other nuts, Brazil nuts cannot be cultivated in plantations – they can only be gathered “wild” in the jungle. In Bolivia, the large capsules, which usually contain around 20 seeds, or rather nuts, fall from the up-to-50-m high Brazil nut trees when it rains a lot between December and April. The capsules are opened to remove the nuts at the foot of the tree. The nuts are then dried at central collecting stations, before being gently roasted and then cracked – providing the first glimpse of the Brazil nut as we know them. The relatively large, brown-white nut has a slightly earthy taste and is a good source of magnesium and phosphorus, as well as being rich in vitamin E.
Ingredients
Brazil Nuts Shelled
Nutrition Statement
Source of vitamin E, source of magnesium
This product is
- vegetarian
- vegan
- glutenfree*
- lactosefree*
- no added sugar**
- no added salt***
Nutrition facts
(per 100g)
- Calories (kj/kcal) 2.817 kj/687 kcal
- Fat 66 g
- of which saturated fatty acids 16 g
- Carbohydrate 4,0 g
- of which sugar ** 4,0 g
- Protein 16 g
- Salt *** 0,06 g
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: BOLIVIA
Bolivia is crossed in the west by two large and widely separated chains of the Andes, whose peaks rise to more than 6,500 m. Between the mountain ranges lie the central highlands – the Altiplano. Although the highlands make up only about a third of the country’s surface area, the Altiplano is the actual heartland of Bolivia and home to about 60 percent of all Bolivians. The Llanos take up the largest part of Bolivia. This hot tropical lowland is divided into the dry savannas of the Gran Chaco in the south and the tropical rainforest areas of Amazonia in the north.
GROWING THE BRAZIL NUTS
Brazil nut trees thrive in the tropical wilds of northern Bolivia, in the Beni region, where their branches thrust upwards in an untamed jungle. That's right: Brazil nut trees are not grown on special plantations, because plantation trees yield very small harvests. The reason is that the pollinating bees do not reach the crowns of the trees, as other plants that are of interest to the bee are simply missing from the plantations. To harvest Brazil nuts, therefore, the trees must be within an intact rainforest. Fallen nuts that are not harvested are nibbled open by agutis – a rodent – and the seeds are then eaten. But the Agutis also bury some Brazil nuts against a rainy day. Since the animals never come back for a large proportion of the buried nuts, they help the species spread.
BRAZIL NUT TREE
The Brazil nut tree is named after the country drained largely by the Amazon river, Brazil. Along with rubber trees, the Brazil nut tree is one of the most economically important plants in the Amazon region. The Brazil nut tree is called the dinosaur of original trees. It grows to about 40 meters in height and has a crown that can branch out to 50 meters in diameter. After the rainy season, the Brazil nut tree blooms for 6–8 weeks. Each individual flower, however, opens for just one day, then falls to the ground. Capsules that resemble coconuts then grow, each holding about 18 Brazil nut kernels. A Brazil nut tree can live up to 400 years, continuing all the while to yield isolated capsules with Brazil nut kernels. During its lifetime a Brazil nut tree can produce up to 8,000 capsules.
HARVESTING BRAZIL NUTS
The harvest period extends over half a year during the rainy season. Soaked by the rain and made much heavier, the capsules fall to the ground, where they are collected. Cut open with machetes, the capsules yield up the nuts, which are bagged and brought to collection stations, from where they are later transported to Riberalta. The harvesters are mostly locals who are highly knowledgeable about jungle life and the local animals. During the harvest, the collectors live with their families in the jungle in what are known as ‘baraccas’. Fun fact: Brazil nuts are used as candles in the rainforest because of their combustible oil.
PROCESSING THE BRAZIL NUTS
In an initial quality check in Riberalta, rotten kernels are sorted out and discarded. Following the check, the nuts are given a rough cleaning and sorted by size. They are then dried to preserve them and protect them from mold. To render the hard shell of the Brazil nut kernels crackable later, the nuts are cooked in steam under pressure for one minute. After the cooking in hot steam, the nuts are again dried to leave the shell brittle and easy to crack. The last step involves sorting the kernels by size, which determines the classification, and drying them down to the desired moisture content. To help them stay fresh longer, the Brazil nut kernels are packed in vacuum bags.
QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS
The special quality of the nuts lies mainly in their freshness. Brazil nut kernels have a high oil content and must therefore always be packaged to keep out light and oxygen and so protect them against rancidity. Since the nuts are used directly from the rainforest, with no processing, quality assurance must be high to ensure the product is safe. Brazil nut kernels are classified by size: “Tiny”, “Midget”, “Small”, “Medium”, and “Large”. We buy the class Medium and Large.
SUSTAINABILITY
Since Brazil nut kernels thrive only in an intact rainforest, consuming them contributes to protecting the rainforest. In the regions where the Brazil nut trees are found, hundreds of thousands of people live from collecting and processing the nuts. Although hammering nuts with machines is far less expensive, hand-cracking jobs are still retained to employ and keep workers. To create long-term jobs, the workers who bring the nuts in from the jungles remain employed in the factories after the collection season.
