brazil nut info

According to the authors at Wikipedia.com:


Today Ron we will be talking abut how the Brazil Nut is not really a nut. the definition of a nut is a simple dry fruit with one seed and rarely 2 in which the ovary wall becomes very hard at maturuity, and where the seed remains unattched or unfused with the ovary wall. After carefully reviewing that definition of a nut, it is true that a Brazil Nut is not a true nut. The Brazil Nut has a hard woody shell and inside contains usually 8-24 triangular seeds packed like segments of an orange. Thus not being a true nut because it has more than one or 2 seeds, inside the hardened outer shell. Despite their name, the most signficant exporter of Brazil Nuts is not Brazil but Bolivia, where they are called Almendras. In Brazil these nuts are called Castanhas-do-Para, but Acreans call them Castanhas-do-Acre instead. Indigenous names include Juvia in the Orinoco area, and Sapucaia in Brazil. The Cream Nut is one of the several historical names for the Brazil Nut used in America. While classified by cooks as a nut, botanists consider Brazil Nuts to be a seed and not a nut, since in nuts the shell splits in halves, with the meat being separate from the shell. After talking about all this its werid how they still sell Brazil Nuts in the cans of mixed nuts and also have them in the nut section of stores along with all the other nuts. The capsule contains a small hole at one end, which enables large rodents like the Agouti to gnaw open the capsule. They then eat some of the nuts inside while burying others for later use; some of these are able to germinate to produce new Brazil Nut Trees. Most of the seeds are planted by the Agoutis in shady places , and the yound saplings may have to wait years, in a state of dormancy, for a tree to fall and sunlight to reach it. It is not until then that it starts growing again. Capuchin Monkeys have been reported to open Brazil Nuts using a stone as an anvil. As well its food use, Brazil Nut oil is also uded as a lubricant in clocks, for making artists' paints, and in the comsmetics industry. The timber from Brazil Nut Trees is of excellent quality, but logging the trees is prohibitied by law in all three producing countries: Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru. Illegal extreaction of timber and land clearances present a continuing threat. The Brazil Nut effect, where large items mixed with other smaller items tend to rise to the top, is named after the species' of large nuts. Brazil Nuts contain small amounts of Radium, a radioactive material. Although the amount is very small, about 1-7 pci/g and most of it is not retained by the body, this is 1000 times higher than in other foods. According to Oak Ridge Associated Universities, this is not the cause of elevated levels of Radium in the soil, but due to the very extensive root system of the tree. Now after listening to this lovely and very imformative peice of information everyone should now know the Brazil Nut is not a real nut but instead a seed. We know that everyone that listens to this wil love the facts that we have shared with them. This has been Peter and Ron on QP 420.