The History of Brazil Nuts

Brazil nuts come from the Bertholletia excelsa tree, which grows in the Amazon Rainforest and can live for over 500 years. While they’re referred to as “nuts,” Brazil nuts aren’t actually nuts at all — they’re seeds. Moreover, they have more in common with blueberries and persimmons than walnuts or pecans! The pods they’re encased in are notoriously difficult to open. In fact, only two animals in the world can manage it — agoutis (small rodents) and humans (but only with the help of tools). Even the pollination of Brazil nuts is challenging — the orchid bee is the only pollinator capable of the job because it has a specialized, strong tongue capable of prying open the hood of the tree’s flowers to get to the nectar inside. Most Brazil nuts are harvested in the wild, a highly hazardous job. Still, humans have been consuming Brazil nuts since at least the Upper Paleolithic era roughly 11,00 years ago. While Indigenous Peoples have a long history of consuming Brazil nuts, the first mention of them from Westerners didn’t occur until 1569, when the Spanish and Portuguese began encroaching on the region and a Spanish conquistador named Juan Álvarez Maldonado was introduced to the food near the Rio Madre de Dios in Peru. (Brazil nuts are not, despite their name, exclusive to Brazil, but rather grow throughout Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador.) Notably, neither the Spanish nor the Portuguese were the first to introduce Brazil nuts to Europe. Instead, Brazil nuts were first brought to Europe by Dutch traders in the early 1600s. However, they didn’t become popular for another century or so. Brazil nuts were introduced to the United States in the early 1800s and just as in Europe, it took some time for them to become popular, although they eventually caught on. Today, Brazil nuts are popular in many parts of the world and are often included in mixed nuts tins; interestingly, the majority of Brazil nuts imported into the U.S. come from Bolivia.