Food

Food Information

Nuts

BRAZIL

Brazil nuts grow on tall trees that bear nuts that look like coconuts. But unlike the coconut, which is hollow and filled with liquid, the "coconut" of these Brazilian trees contains fifteen to twenty closely packed Brazil nuts. The Brazil nut is three-cornered and the segments fit together much like the segments of citrus fruit.
The Brazil nut has a very hard shell and a very hard nutmeat. But even though they are of a hard texture, they are quite perishable. If they are not stored in cool dry areas, they often get rancid. Twenty or thirty years ago we had a far higher percentage of rancid Brazil nuts, but today this problem is much less common because of improved methods of storage and more rapid transit.

Deamer 12/7/96