Guest guest Posted August 14, 2005 Report Share Posted August 14, 2005 > I've been looking for a good quality fresh source of brazil nuts in > the shell. I figured that YOU would know all about this so please do > tell...... Is there a good mail-order business we don't know about? > When are they harvested and so when are they freshest? Thanks ! > ~Robin Ann Hello Robin Ann! I will be most pleased to help you, but as a matter of fact I don't understand a lot about Brazil nuts. I eat them regularly, but I buy them shelled, you know. I have heard that they have a very hard shell and it is a tough job to crack them open. Traditionally it was women who did that job. I think (but I am not sure) they are at their freshest around the end of the year. They certainly are boiled at some point of the processing, but maybe only after they have been shelled. I don't know how much is lost by boiling them and I don't know why they do it. Perhaps to soften them? Actually, it is only very seldom that I see in the shops Brazil nuts in the shell, but I am going to check it next Friday when I usually do my shopping. Can you wait that long for a more detailed piece of information? Anyway, I am wondering how you yourself are going to import them into the USA. It may be turn out to be too expensive. Besides, American customs are very very rigid as far as food entering the country is concerned. Well, the exporter certainly knows better than I. By the way, Brazil nut in Portuguese is called *Castanha do Pará* (literally _Chestnut from Pará_). Pará is the Northern State where the trees grew originally. It is very far from here. I have never been there. The trees apparently don't grow here in the South. Cheers, José Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 14, 2005 Report Share Posted August 14, 2005 , > I have heard that they have a very hard shell > and it is a tough job to crack them open. Traditionally it was > women who did that job. [snip] > Can you wait until Friday for a more detailed piece of information? Of course, I can wait for information on Brazil nuts from a Brazilian. You mention boiling the nuts: In the past I've frozen them in order to make the nuts easier to crack open from the shell. I use a hammer. Maybe they don't allow women to have hammers in Brazil? :-D ~Robin Ann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 14, 2005 Report Share Posted August 14, 2005 > , > > > I have heard that they have a very hard shell > > and it is a tough job to crack them open. Traditionally it was > > women who did that job. > > [snip] > > > Can you wait until Friday for a more detailed piece of information? > > Of course, I can wait for information on Brazil nuts from a Brazilian. > > You mention boiling the nuts: In the past I've frozen them in order to > make the nuts easier to crack open from the shell. I use a hammer. > Maybe they don't allow women to have hammers in Brazil? > > :-D > > ~Robin Ann Oh Robin Ann: You are making me laugh. No this is not the first time I am laughing to-day, but that was a very good laugh, you know. Indeed, the women breaking the shells use a hammer - I have seen it on TV - but I can't assert that they use the same hammer on their employers for paying them such a vile sallary. If that's what you are alluding to, then I agree that they might start considering such a corrective action. Cheers, JC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 18, 2005 Report Share Posted August 18, 2005 > , > > > I have heard that they have a very hard shell > > and it is a tough job to crack them open. Traditionally it was > > women who did that job. > > [snip] > > > Can you wait until Friday for a more detailed piece of information? > > Of course, I can wait for information on Brazil nuts from a Brazilian. > > You mention boiling the nuts: In the past I've frozen them in order to > make the nuts easier to crack open from the shell. I use a hammer. > Maybe they don't allow women to have hammers in Brazil? > > :-D > > ~Robin Ann Hello Robin Ann: So I went to do my shopping to-day, one day earlier than I usually do. I talked to one of the shop assistants in the health food shop where I buy nuts. He told me that unshelled Brazil nuts usually are only for sale around X-mas, because that's the time people use them for decoration, you know. It'd be very difficult to buy unshelled Brazil nuts right now. Anyway he gave me the telephone number of his main supplier. I called them up just to confirm the information: unshelled Brazil nuts only around X-mas. Depending on how much you need, they (the suppliers) could sell them to you, if you placed an order. If it is a small quantity, it may be too expensive, however. The person in charge of exportation issues (the owner) wasn't in when I called. So if you'd like, I will send him an e-mail later with a few questions. Or you could do that yourself. Ask him your questions in English or submit your questions to me and I will translate them for you. Their e-mail is r.fatuch@... or estreladooriente@.... The man in charge is called Francisco. So please let me know what you'd rather do, so I can be of service to you, if you need me. I was going to mail this privately to you, Robin Ann, but then I thought that someone else might be interested in this. Hoping to hear from you soon, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 18, 2005 Report Share Posted August 18, 2005 .... PS. By the way, Robin Ann, only now (too late?) do I realize that the word *nut* in American English can stand for an insane or eccentric person. So maybe Brazil Nuts, with a little stretch from a casual reader, could as well mean *insane or eccentric people coming from Brazil*. Oh, I expect you don't think that everyone coming from this country are necessarily nuts! (Though, as a side note, I would add that many are indeed...) I've got to put in an emoticon here: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 18, 2005 Report Share Posted August 18, 2005 > PS. By the way, Robin Ann, only now (too late?) do I realize that > the word *nut* in American English can stand for an insane or > eccentric person. So maybe Brazil Nuts, with a little stretch from > a casual reader, could as well mean *insane or eccentric people > coming from Brazil*. Oh, I expect you don't think that everyone > coming from this > country are necessarily nuts! (Though, as a side note, I would add > that many are indeed...) I've got to put in an emoticon here: > Well, from a California Nut to a Brazil nut, thanks for your research, . I was interested in a source for unshelled Brazil nuts because I assume that with unshelled there'd be less of a chance for the nuts to be rancid. And then, of course, I could also wield my mighty hammer! And, yes, Brazil nuts are indeed mainly for sale around here at Christmas time. I just wondered if that was because they were harvested at that time and therefore freshest or there was some other more festive or holy reason involved? This is a rhetorical question for which I don't expect you to have the answer... :-) I will probably buy the unshelled nuts on the internet when they are freshest and then freeze them until I want to eat them... But you can bet that I'll never think of a Brazil nut in quite the same way though.. ~Robin Ann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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