Brazil Nut Botanical Name: Bertholetia exelca (Lecythidaceae)

General Description/History: - this is the only species in this family and is native to a wide area of tropical rainforest in South America, including Brazil - nuts are borne on large trees that grow up to 45m in height - each large fruit, which looks like a coconut and weighs up to 2 kg, contains about 10 to 25 nuts - each nut comes in a hard grey/beige shell, which has a rough texture - the nuts themselves are elongated, 4 to 5 cm long, slightly curved and have a dark honey-brown seed coat covering the cream coloured nut - nuts have a rich taste, and are high in saturated fat, even higher than macadamias - they are a good source of selenium, magnesium and thiamine - nuts are still almost entirely harvested from the wild with most supplies coming from Bolivia and Brazil - over-harvesting has taken so many nuts that trees cannot reproduce, as a result the Brazil nut has been listed as ‘vulnerable’

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