Brazil nut

The Brazil nut is native to the Guianas, Venezuela, Brazil, eastern Colombia, eastern Peru, and eastern Bolivia. It occurs as scattered trees in large forests on the banks of the Amazon River, Rio Negro, Tapajós, and the Orinoco. The genus is named after the French chemist Claude Louis Berthollet.

As a result, they can be found outside production areas, in the backyards of homes and near roads and streets in the Brazilian North and Northeast. The fruit is heavy and rigid; when the fruits fall, they pose a serious threat to vehicles and people passing under the tree. Brazil nut fruit sinks in water, which can cause clogging of waterways in riparian areas.

A freshly cut Brazil nut fruit

Brazil nut trees produce fruit almost exclusively in pristine forests, as disturbed forests lack the large-bodied bees of the genera Bombus, Centris, Epicharis, Eulaema, and Xylocopa which are the only ones capable of pollinating the tree's flowers, with different bee genera being the primary pollinators in different areas, and different times of year.[8][9][10] Brazil nuts have been harvested from plantations, but production is low and is currently not economically viable.[11][12][13]

The fruit takes 14 months to mature after pollination of the flowers. The fruit itself is a large capsule 10–15 cm (3.9–5.9 in) in diameter, resembling a coconut endocarp in size and weighing up to 2 kg (4.4 lb). It has a hard, woody shell 8–12 mm (0.31–0.47 in) thick, which contains eight to 24 wedge-shaped seeds 4–5 cm (1.6–2.0 in) long (the "Brazil nuts") packed like the segments of an orange.

The capsule contains a small hole at one end, which enables large rodents like the agouti to gnaw it open.[14] They then eat some of the seeds inside while burying others for later use; some of these are able to germinate into new Brazil nut trees.[14] Most of the seeds are "planted" by the agoutis in caches during wet season,[14] and the young saplings may have to wait years, in a state of dormancy, for a tree to fall and sunlight to reach it, when it starts growing again. Capuchin monkeys have been reported to open Brazil nuts using a stone as an anvil.

Since most of the production for international trade is harvested in the wild,[18][19] the business arrangement has been advanced as a model for generating income from a tropical forest without destroying it.[18] The nuts are most often gathered by migrant workers known as castañeros (in Spanish) or castanheiros (in Portuguese).[18] Logging is a significant threat to the sustainability of the Brazil nut harvesting industry.[18][19]

Analysis of tree ages in areas that are harvested shows that moderate and intense gathering takes so many seeds that not enough are left to replace older trees as they die.[19] Sites with light gathering activities had many young trees, while sites with intense gathering practices had nearly none.[20]

In 2003, the European Union imposed strict regulations on the import of Brazilian-harvested Brazil nuts in their shells, as the shells are considered to contain unsafe levels of aflatoxins, a potential cause of liver cancer.[21]

The shells of Brazil nuts contain high levels of aflatoxins, which can cause liver damage, including possible cancer, if consumed.[21]

The nuts contain small amounts of radium, a radioactive element, with a concentration of about 1–7 nCi/kg or 40–260 Bq/kg, about 1000 times higher than in several other common foods; according to Oak Ridge Associated Universities, this is not because of elevated levels of radium in the soil, but due to "the very extensive root system of the tree."[27]

Brazil nut oil

Brazil nut oil contains 75% unsaturated fatty acids composed mainly of oleic and linoleic acids, as well as the phytosterol, beta-sitosterol,[28] and fat-soluble vitamin E.[29]

The following table presents the composition of fatty acids in Brazil nut essential oil:[22]

The lumber from Brazil nut trees (not to be confused with Brazilwood) is of excellent quality, having diverse uses from flooring to heavy construction.[1] Logging the trees is prohibited by law in all three producing countries (Brazil, Bolivia and Peru). Illegal extraction of timber and land clearances present a continuing threat.[30]

A carved Brazil nut fruit

Brazil nut oil is used as a lubricant in clocks, in the manufacturing of paint, and in the cosmetics industry. Engravings in Brazil nut shells are supposed to have used as decorative jewelry by unnamed indigenous tribes in Bolivia, although no extant examples exist. Because of its hardness, the Brazil nutshell is often pulverized and used as an abrasive to polish materials such as metals and ceramics, in the same way jeweler's rouge is used.