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 Organic RAW Brazil Nuts

Our Organic Raw Brazil Nuts are grown in the Madre de Dios region of Peru in the lush Amazonian rainforest at the intersection of Peru, Brazil and Bolivia ― one of the most fruitful Brazil nut production lands in the world.

Indigenous individuals from local Amazonian communities gather the wild Brazil nuts and bring them down river to a centralized market which is done with age-old techniques and in a pristine way, which allows the consumer to receive nuts of the utmost superb quality. These individuals are licensed to undertake such sustainable forest products harvesting as a part of a Peruvian governmental incentive program that allows them to do so in place of more non-sustainable activities such as slash and burn agriculture. We deal specifically with a large and constant group of nut gatherers that have been certified organic since 2000.The Brazil nut-rich forests that span the intersection of Amazonian Peru, Bolivia and Brazil are the world's most biologically diverse ecosystems. The region supports the greatest known densities of numbers of species of birds, butterflies and other animals. For example, a single square kilometer supports twice as many butterfly species as the entire United States and more than 10% of the entire world total.

Brazil nut trees are canopy-dominants that grow to 165 feet and have a life span of several hundred years. Their reproductive biology is extremely specialized and is dependent on a healthy forest ecosystem and its diversity of life. Pollination of this tree is so specialized that Brazil nuts have never been effectively grown in plantations. Metallic-green colored Euglossine orchid bees are required to pollinate Brazil nut flowers. The trees bear grapefruit-sized fruits that remain on the tree for 15 months and contain some 20 seeds (nuts) per fruit.

The fruits can only be opened by small rodents called agoutis that scatter the nuts around the forest by burying much of the crop. Agoutis may take the fruits a thousand feet away from the parent tree and often bury some of the seeds for the future. If the agouti forgets where its cache is, the seeds may germinate into seedlings. Thus the nuts may live to grow into seedlings, be eaten by rodents, rot, or end up being served at a party in the United States!

The people living in the Brazil nut-rich forests share a common resource base, a forested ecosystem of profound global biodiversity significance. Their quest for improving their lives will ultimately determine the fate of these forests and will have a significant impact on the health of the entire planet.

Castañales (Brazil nut harvesting concessions) offer one the few positive bottom-line economic examples where the density of a renewable natural resource other than timber is sufficient to justify the existence of large forested areas against unsustainable uses such as cattle ranching. Brazil nuts, which are opened up by harvesters within the primary forest, represent more than half the yearly income for thousands of families in the region, and so far have politically justified the protection of these natural areas. People can actually make a living harvesting these nuts from wild forests – a strong economic reason that keeps the trees standing.
Essential Living Foods supplies its customers with premium quality Brazil nuts harvested by families in Peru and Bolivia who greatly value and rely on healthy rainforests for their livelihood. Eating a Brazil nut (or splashing on some of Essential Living Foods's Brazil nut oil) literally saves the rainforest!


Essential Living Foods' Organic Brazil Nuts

Essential Living Foods’s truly-raw Brazil Nuts are unlike any other on the market. The extraordinary process begins when the large Brazil nut pods are carefully gathered by Indigenous people in a pristine part of the Rainforest.

Believe it or not, they bring the pods back on boats and deliver them to the processing facility – where they are paid a very fair price for their harvest. At the facility, the little “in-shell” nuts are removed from the large outer casing and carefully dried. Once dried, the smaller shells are cracked and the nut meat is taken out and packaged in vacuum-sealed bags.

Nutritional Benefits

  • Brazil nuts are an excellent source of protein, containing nearly 20% by weight. Plus, they provide a full spectrum of amino acids – including vital performance boosters like methionine, arginine, glutamine and more.
  • They’re rich in heart-healthy, monounsaturated oils – making them a nutritious, filling snack.
  • Brazil nuts are rich in minerals, including hard-to-find ones like selenium, zinc, magnesium, thiamine, phosphorous, copper, iron and more.
  • In fact, Brazil nuts are the highest food source of the anti-cancer mineral selenium – containing 2,500 TIMES MORE selenium than any other nut.


A Way for Companies to Give Back to the Rainforest

Purchasing Essential Living Foods Brazil nuts directly supports the indigenous Amazonian communities that harvest them. Over the years, the natives have perfected the harvesting of this nut from the unique ecosystem where these incredibly rare trees grow.

Most people don’t realize how rare Brazil nut trees actually are—pollination of these trees is so specialized that they’ve never, ever been successfully grown in plantations. As a consequence, if this precious rainforest land is destroyed, Brazil nuts cannot be grown anywhere else in the world.

Fortunately, the existence of a highly renewable natural resource –  like these Brazil nuts – is enough to justify the ongoing existence of such large forested areas. That’s why offering Brazil nuts to your customers is so positive. When you sell these nuts and use them in your products, it helps to preserve this precious land.


Customers Extremely Pleased With Quality of this Nut

We also have countless testimonials from customers saying that Essential Living Foods’s Brazil nuts are among the freshest, most delicious tasting nuts they’ve ever had. There’s a reason for this: Most brazil nuts are subjected to high heat during the drying process. But ours are not. The inside of the nut never exceeds 120 degrees, which keeps the oil, protein and original flavor of the nut pure and uncorrupted. Plus, they are stored in vacuum sealed bags and boxes – never exposed to damaging air or light.

That’s why several prominent living foods cafes and restaurants use thousands of pounds of our Brazil nuts each year  – in nut milks, deserts, pie crusts and many other recipes. Another company uses Essential Living Foods Brazil nuts to make an incredibly delicious Brazil nut butter which is distributed nationally in fine stores such as Whole Foods.

 

Organic RAW Pecans

Our Organic Pecans (Carya illinoinensis wangenh) of the Stuart variety are grown in the Topará Valley, Chincha, located approximately 200 Km south of Lima, Peru. The plantations are over 30 years old and have been skillfully managed by the Bederski family who practice only strict organic and environmentally sound farming methods. The organic pecans are manually harvested, classified, and transported to an adjacent processing facility. Then the pecans are hand cleaned, cracked, and shelled under a rigorous quality control program. The pecans are carefully selected, vacuum packed and stored in refrigeration. The production process includes the use of few machines; over 140 people from the surrounding villages are employed.


Essential Living Foods Organic Mammoth Pecans

Whether you love Pecans or not, trying Essential Living Foods’ Organic Mammoth Pecan Halves will forever change your perspective on this ancient nut. That’s because the Pecans Essential Living Foods imports each year are among the largest, freshest, sweetest Pecans in the entire world.

This is no exaggeration. Despite having many tons available, Essential Living Foods sells out of this amazing nut many months in advance—every single year. Buyers from some of the largest natural foods distributors in the country literally compete for their share of this product. High-end, award winning chocolate manufacturers contract as much as they can to add to their bars. Health cafes and food manufacturers find it difficult to use Pecans from any other source after using Essential Living Foods’ Pecans.


Why This Pecan Is Unlike Any Other You’ve Tried

What makes them so special? There are several explanations. First, the trees used are a very rare and native variety known for its incredible size and sweet flavor. The Bederski family spent many years selecting the ideal variety to thrive in the Topara Valley and ultimately struck gold when they discovered this one.  In addition, incredible care is taken in processing the nuts. Every pecan is manually harvested and then transported to a nearby processing facility. There, each and every Pecan is hand-cleaned, cracked, and shelled under a rigorous quality control program. The pecans are carefully selected, vacuum packed and stored in refrigeration.

The production process includes the use of few machines; over 80 people from the surrounding villages are employed. Organic Certification is administrated by SKAL in Lima - Peru. In addition the farm is certified by EUREPGAP with the "Good Agricultural Practices Certification."

Lastly, Essential Living Foods uses additional special storage and transportation to ensure that the nuts stay super-fresh for at least one year after arriving in the states (provided they are stored in cool, dry conditions).

In fact, just to make sure they are never damaged by heat, these Pecans are shipped strictly on refrigerated containers and kept in refrigerated storage upon arrival. Both precautions are expensive, but well worth the added freshness and long-lasting taste they provide.

Go Straight to the Source of our Organic Pecans!



Nutritional Benefits

  • Essential Living Foods’s Organic Pecans are loaded with essential minerals and vitamins, especially the antioxidant vitamin E.
  • Recent studies have shown that consuming nuts — Pecans especially — can potentially lower cholesterol and even aid in weight management. This is partially because Pecans contain an abundance of heart-healthy, unsaturated fats.
  • Pecans also contain more than 19 vitamins and minerals such as vitamin E, folic acid, calcium, copper, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, zinc and several B vitamins.


Wild RAW Jungle Peanuts

Essential Living Foods'  Wild Organic Amazon Rainforest Peanuts are harvested from the jungles of southeastern Ecuador and northern Peru. This wild growing peanut is harvested by indigenous Achuar people as a sustainable rainforest product.

The peanut, while grown in tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world, is native to the Western Hemisphere. It probably originated in South America, in the region where Essential Living Foods procures wild peanuts, and spread throughout the new World as Spanish explorers discovered the peanut's versatility. When the Spaniards returned to Europe, peanuts went with them. Later, traders were responsible for spreading peanuts to Asia and Africa. Peanuts, also known as groundnuts, are now grown in 108 countries.

The forests of the Amazon contain places where wild peanuts have survived undisturbed for thousands of years, including the southern area of Ecuador. These ancient varieties of peanuts offer unique flavors and appearances to consumers. Essential Living Foods's wild rainforest peanuts have a beautiful striped color and smooth, rich flavor that many people find far more pleasing than mass grown commercial peanuts.

Many of the natural regions where wild peanuts grow are being threatened by modern development pressures, and the wild strains of peanuts are threatened along with the ancient communities that live in these forests. Essential Living Foods's peanuts are harvested by the Achuar people of southern Ecuador, an area with incredible richness in biodiversity.

The indigenous group of approximately 4,300 Achuar people has title to roughly two million acres of primary forest. The Ashuar are one of an increasing number of Amazonian indigenous groups who are organizing against oil exploration activities that threaten their territory. Although the Achuar have demanded that no oil development occur on their land, ARCO has the exploration rights to two areas in their territory that encompass 2.5 million acres. The Achuar insist that all communities affected by proposed development must play a part in deciding how traditional land is used. The Achuar are putting pressure on ARCO and the Ecuadorian government to recognize their right to self-determination.

Essential Living Foods's wild harvested peanuts offer an economic model to strengthen value in the Ashaur's forest and create an income source to empower them. Essential Living Foods plans to work with the Achuar on other products as well. The peanuts come from a remote area, flown out on small planes, and packaged with stringent quality control. They are naturally low in aflatoxins (<10 ppb).


Check out the Source of our Wild Jungle Peanuts!



Nutritional Benefits

  • Wild Jungle Peanuts contain over 40% oleic acid—an oil essential for heart health and smooth, beautiful skin. This oil content is similar to other nutritionally praised nuts, like almonds.
  • Second, our Wild Jungle Peanuts deliver a whopping 26% protein—this is more than virtually any other nut or seed, including flax or hemp.
  • Third, Wild Jungle Peanuts boast a wide array of amino acids, including ALL 8 essential ones. This makes them a great source for amino acids like methionine, which is hard to find in other plant foods.
  • And finally, they contain arachidonic acid, a beneficial fatty acid usually found only in meat.