Random Musings from the Nuttery...Fun Facts

 

We started way back in 1969 in little kiosks in malls around Houston.  Here are a few remembrances of those days:

We charged $1.79 a pound for "King Cashews", which were subject to sales tax back then because nuts were considered a luxury, not a food.  Fun fact: The largest and oldest cashew tree is in Brazil, covering over two acres and producing about eighty thousand cashews each year.  The photo you see to the left shows the cashew nuts with their pear-like fruit.

We bought almonds from the California Almond Growers Exchange, which was a cooperative of almond orchard owners.  Back then, we were able to get the really big almonds, but mother nature has a rule that the larger the crop is generally, the smaller the almonds are when harvested.  Today California supplies over 90% of the world market on almonds, and harvests about 670 million pounds each year. The really big beautiful kernels are scarce.

Agriculture methods have changed over the decades, but one nut will always be harvested the really old-fashioned way, the Brazil nut.  Brazil nut trees will only produce in the rainforests of South America, and are harvested by hand by village cooperatives.  It's a somewhat dangerous activity, since the trees grow to about 165 feet and drop the seed pods, which obtain a pretty fast velocity on their way down.  Fore!!

More to come!

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