The Nut With a New Name

Picture; Credits goes to Trust.org

 

BY AWAKE! CORRESPONDENT IN BOLIVIA
FROM the dense rain forests of Amazonia comes a nut that is tasty and nutritious. Its previous designation, “Brazil nut,” is no longer appropriate, since as much as half its supply now comes from forests beyond the borders of Brazil, especially from Bolivia.
Appropriately, on May 18, 1992, the International Nut Council decided to change the name of the nut, previously known variously as Brazil nut, cream nut, butternut, castana do Pará, Paranuss, and noix du Brésil. Now it is to be called Amazonia nut.

A Nut-Gatherer’s Story
Listen to what Cornelio, a nut gatherer since the age of six, has to say about the gathering of this exotic jungle nut:
“Most Amazonia nuts are gathered in the wild. We have to penetrate deep into the jungle to find them. Winding rivers are the only access. My 19-year-old son and I travel for several days on a double-deck riverboat to an encampment where we are assigned a section of forest.
“To make full use of the daylight, we rise at 4:30 a.m. and are already on our way by dawn. Tracks extend only a few miles to collection points; from there on we must force our way forward, cutting through the dense undergrowth with machetes. There are no landmarks. We have to know how to use the sun as a guide, or we would never find our way back.

“The jungle presents many dangers to anyone seeking its treasures. There are diseases, such as malaria, as well as the constant threat of snakes. We are not worried about the giant boa constrictors—they don’t bother us—but hidden among the dead leaves on the ground are small snakes that are deadly poisonous. Their color and markings camouflage them perfectly.

The bite is not painful at first, but gradually the victim is paralyzed by the venom. Small green snakes hidden in the branches are just as dangerous. “We can easily find the handsome nut-bearing trees called almendros, since they are from 100 to 150 feet [30-50 m] tall and tower far above most other trees of the forest. The trunk usually has no branches until it breaks out above the jungle canopy. At the extremity of the branches grow the cocos, hard spherical shells from four to six inches [10-15 cm] in diameter. These contain from 10 to 25 nuts arranged like the segments of an orange, each in an individual shell.

“The cocos fall to the ground during the rainy season, which lasts from November to February. They have to be collected immediately, or they will spoil. Cocos falling from the height of a 15-story building present another life-threatening hazard. We must work quickly, throwing the cocos into a pile away from the almendro to minimize the danger. But watch out for snakes! When they are asleep, coiled up with their head resting on top of the coil, they look just like a coco. Some workers have even picked a snake up and thrown it, mistaking it for a coco.

“Cutting open the coco requires skill. Several full-strength blows with the machete in just the right place are needed to release the nuts without damaging them. Soon we are returning, bearing heavy sacks of nuts. We use no vehicles or beasts of burden. A gatherer must be strong and athletic, especially since the harvest is during the hottest and wettest part of the year.”

After the Gathering
 
The nuts are green when they are gathered, which means that they are perishable because of their high water content (approximately 35 percent). To prevent them from spoiling, they need to be moved each day with a shovel to allow those at the bottom of the pile to dry. Most of Bolivia’s nuts are prepared for export. It takes six months to process the harvest.

Processing begins by heating the nuts in a large steam pressure cooker. The heat separates the nut from its shell. Hence, when extracted from the shells, most of the nuts come out whole. The nuts are then graded into sizes, spread on wire trays, and heated in ovens to reduce the water content to between 4 and 8 percent. The shells are burned as fuel to heat the ovens. The reduced water content makes it possible to store the nuts for a year or for several years if they are chilled. To preserve their quality and flavor, the nuts are vacuum packed in aluminum foil for export.

Amazonia nuts are enjoyed by millions of people around the world in a wide variety of ways. Some have the nuts in their breakfast cereal. Others enjoy them coated with chocolate or mixed with dried fruits. The next time you have this appetizing nut, remember that it has a new name—Amazonia nut!