Hello.
Today we will introduce you to one of the most interesting exotic nuts.
This is the Brazilian nut, which is also called the American nut.
It is easy to guess from the name that the Brazilian nut comes from the country of the
same name.
Although it grows throughout the Amazon Valley: in Guiana, Venezuela, Bolivia and part of
Peru.
Bolivia is by far the largest walnut exporter.
This country annually sells about 10 thousand tons of nuts, which is 50% of world production.
40% of nuts are harvested in Brazilian forests, the remaining 10% are in Peru and some other
countries.
The nuts that are exported from these countries are harvested from forests, since only trees
growing in the wild give good yields.
The hero of our today's video is called a nut, not because it is in a biological sense,
but because in appearance, taste, texture and smell it is most similar to a nut.
In fact, this is a grain, or a seed from the fruit of the Berthollet tree.
To see how this tree grows, you need to go to the forests of the equatorial and tropical
zones of South America.
These trees are the largest in the humid tropics of the Amazon and are a monotypic genus of
the South American Lecithis families.
The only species of these families is Bertoletiya high.
The berthollet tree (in some sources - bertholletia) is named after the great French chemist Claude
Berthollet.
The trees look truly monumental.
They can reach a height of 45 m, with a trunk diameter of 150-200 cm.
Trees live a long time, sometimes more than 500 years.
The Brazil nut tree grows unusually.
The trunk is straight, and almost 75% of the tree does not have side branches, and the
remaining 25% form a spherical crown, so from afar it looks like a ball on a long rod.
Leaves with fruits are located almost at the very top.
Bertoletiya blooms very beautifully with greenish-white flowers.
The nectar of the brazil nut flowers is very sweet.
The scent of the flowers collected in the brush attracts orchid bees.
Only they, with their long proboscis, can pollinate the plant, since only they manage
to overcome the complex bends of a flower with pollen on its legs.
Thanks to them, fruits appear in a year.
Other insects simply cannot penetrate the inside of the hooded bertolette flower.
Naturally, there is no transfer of pollen from male flowers to female flowers - there
are no fruit ovaries, in which grains ripen, which later become Brazil nuts.
These bees do not exist in places with a destroyed ecosystem, and without them the tree hardly
yields.
Therefore, the Brazil nut tree, planted on plantations, practically does not bear fruit.
The tree begins to bring harvest only in the twelfth year of life, but during the period
of active fruiting per season, more than 200 kg of nuts can be harvested from one tree.
Collecting nuts from such a giant, you understand, is extremely difficult, and it is not necessary,
because ripe fruits themselves fall to the ground.
This is why the Spanish colonists, who first tasted the sweet, nutritious Brazil nuts,
called them "God's gift from heaven."
The Brazilian nut is not divided into halves like its true brethren.
And if you saw the fruit of the berthollette live, you would most likely decide that in
front of you is a coconut.
But as soon as you crack it, instead of the white pulp, you will see large oblong grains
covered with a peel.
The shell of the berthollet fruit, although thin, is very strong.
If it did not split when it fell, you have to try to extract the delicacy.
The monkeys, one of the main connoisseurs of the Brazil nut, have been very successful
in this.
So, Capuchin monkeys know how to open Brazil nuts with stones, they simply crush the fruit
against sharp stones.
See how they do it.
By the way, it is the rich fauna of the Amazon that contributes to the natural distribution
of berthollet.
For example, the adorable agouti animals, relatives of guinea pigs.
Having eaten their fill of tasty delicacies, they bury the rest of the nuts in the ground,
"in reserve."
And then they forget where the treasure was hidden.
How similar is this story with our squirrels and acorns, isn't it?
Some of the seeds, hidden in the soil in open, sunny places, germinate safely, giving life
to new trees.
But most agouti seeds "plant" in caches during the rainy season, and young seedlings can
wait for years dormant until a fallen tree makes available sunlight and the plant begins
to grow again.
It is in this way that Bertoleta breeds in the wild.
It must be said that along with the capuchins, agouti are the only animals capable of cracking
Brazil nuts, mainly due to their physical strength and exceptional sharpness of the
teeth.
There is a small hole at one end of the walnut shell that allows the agouti to gnaw at it.
They then eat some of the seeds inside while others are buried for later use.
It's very funny to watch.
Now let's take a closer look at what the Brazil nut fruit is.
This nut is one of the largest nuts in the world.
The fruits are a round-shaped box with a diameter of 10 to 30 cm, which in appearance resembles
a coconut.
The weight of the fetus can reach 3 kg.
The capsule contains from 18 to 20 seeds, enclosed in a hard, rough and oblong shell
with three edges.
The seeds are arranged in a box, like orange slices.
The thickness of the box is 8-12 mm.
The kernels are creamy white, covered with a light brown husk.
The cleaned kernel weighs about 10 g.
Fresh bertolette fruits are moist to the touch, without rancidity, and have a pleasant aroma.
When cracked, they emit a crunch.
The hard shell is the result of an evolutionary struggle against the nut-eating macaw parrots.
Over the centuries, the nut shell and beak of parrots have become stronger and stronger.
Cracking a nut shell is not easy.
To visualize her hardness, watch a woman try to crack this nut.
No wonder, because of the massive hard fruits, single trees growing along the roads can pose
a danger to passing vehicles and people.
Heavy nuts falling from tall trees accelerate to high speeds and can even kill a person.
The same applies to the period of picking nuts, when fruits weighing from one to two
kilograms can fall on the picker from the height of a nine-story building.
Brazil nuts are harvested in the jungle by locals or hired workers for the trade.
The trees are tall, the trunk is smooth - it is dangerous to climb, so the fruits are often
harvested from the ground (two hundred kilograms from one tree).
Nuts are harvested between November and March during the rainy season, when most of the
fruit from the trees falls on the forest floor.
Harvesting is done manually.
After the nuts are ripe, workers called castañeros set up camps in the jungle and roam the forest
in search of fruit.
At the beginning of the work, they cut off small branches and vines that can interfere
with harvesting near the trees.
Workers find walnut trees and, armed with their tools, paneiros (a basket of vines worn
by the picker on his back to collect nuts) and jaguar hands (a four-tipped wooden pole),
begin to collect the nuts that have fallen to the ground.
Baskets are worn on the back.
A strap, made of rope, goes over the head and the other end is attached to the waist
to maintain balance and ease the load.
A fruit-bearing tree can grow up to 300 fruits, which means that pickers can collect about
6,000 walnut seeds from one tree.
The seeds are extracted from the fruit using a machete right in the forest.
With the edge of a long knife, they hit the middle of the fruit, splitting it in two.
Thus, they extract all the seeds that are inside the fruit, and throw away the shell.
They put the collected nut seeds in bags.
Then they are taken out of the jungle to the river and transported by boat along the main
river routes, arriving, often only a few days later, at the city's processing plants.
Such, for example, as in the city of Puerto Maldonado in Peru.
Here the nuts are checked for quality, then peeled, dried and stacked in boxes.
Peeled nuts fall into three categories.
The best quality nuts are intended for export.
Class II nuts are sold domestically in Peru, while the lowest quality nuts are for local
consumption.
The city of Puerto Maldonado is the main processing and export center for Brazil nuts in Peru.
Here, at the local market, a fifty-kilogram bag of Brazil nuts can be bought for $ 60-
$ 70.
The Brazil nut tastes like pine nuts or hazelnuts, but it is more bland.
The nut contains polyunsaturated oils, which quickly go rancid when exposed to heat and
sunlight.
Therefore, the product is not stored for a long time.
It is best to keep it in a closed box in a cool place.
Bertolethia fruit is the leader in selenium content.
The body's daily requirement for a trace element is concentrated in two nuts.
In addition, it contains up to 30% of easily digestible protein with a minimum of carbohydrates.
In addition to selenium, Brazil nuts contain methionine, an amino acid that not only helps
to absorb selenium, but is also needed to produce glutathione, an antioxidant that strengthens
the body and fights free radicals.
The nut has been known since the time of the Indians.
It has always been prized for its great taste and high nutritional value.
Traditional medicine of the Aztecs actively used the fruits of berthollet.
They still play an important role in local cooking and healing.
The Spanish first discovered Brazil nuts in the 16th century and used them to feed their
hungry soldiers in the South American continent.
Once on the European continent, the Brazilian nut aroused great interest and universal love.
This is an incredibly tasty treat.
In addition, modern scientists have managed to establish that it is also a very useful
food product.
The nut is consumed both raw and fried.
Also, the most delicate oil is produced from nuts, which is used not only in cooking, but
also for the production of artistic paints, cosmetics and as a lubricant for ultra-precise
mechanisms and watches.
The use of bertolette fruits is not limited only
to cooking, where it is used for making desserts, main courses, snacks and soups.
Its characteristics allow it to be used as one of the components for the manufacture
of drugs that improve blood coagulation.
Like other nuts, Brazil nuts are high in fiber, protein, and do not contain bad cholesterol.
In small quantities, they are prescribed by nutritionists for weight loss, muscle building,
and as a substitute for fatty meats.
Studies by Iranian scientists have shown that if you eat Brazil nuts regularly, the likelihood
of death from causes such as stroke and heart attack is reduced by 30%.
The Brazil nut contains a small dose of radioactive radium, but do not be afraid that the use
of the Brazil nut can harm the body.
This dose is extremely small, only from 30 to 250 becquerels per kilogram, although this
is 1000 times more than in other food products, but most of it is contained in the core of
the fruit and will not harm the body.
When consuming nuts, remember that they are the most allergenic of all nuts.
Allergy to them is several times stronger than to peanuts or almonds.
If a person has an intolerance to any nuts, then this is a contraindication for Brazil
nuts.
Today, about 20 thousand tons of Brazil nuts are harvested annually in South America and
exported mainly to the USA.
The bulk of production is exported and only less than 3% is used
for domestic consumption.
Also the main consumers of Brazil nuts are Great Britain, Holland and Canada.