Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure
6.29.
Nuts.
out of the shell. In this way the meat inside is protected during transport and storage.
Otherwise, the shell may be removed and the meat harvested and packaged for sale.
In this latter case the meat must be protected from spoilage.
6.8.8 History
Many nuts have limited areas of production compared to fruits, berries, and other foods.
Commonly, less than 20 countries (Fig. 6.26) are reported to be major producers of
most nuts. This makes identifying the origins of many nuts well established with the
great exception of the coconut. Cashews are from the Amazon basin of Brazil, pista-
chios from south-central Asia, chestnuts northern North America and Europe, the
walnut from the Mediterranean basin, and macadamia nuts from Australia.
On the other hand, the coconut is found in all tropical countries of the world, 90
countries in all, making identification of its origin impossible, although it is commonly
believed that the Malaysia/Indonesia area is the center of origin. Because of its wide-
spread occurrence and extreme usefulness, the coconut is produced in far greater quan-
tities than other nuts (see below).
6.8.9 World Production
World nut production is highest in Asia, followed by South America and Africa. Within
these regions, as shown in Figure 6.30, India, Brazil, Turkey, Indonesia, and Nigeria,
in descending order, are the top producing countries. In 1979 Woodroof reported
almonds as being produced in the largest quantities worldwide, followed by walnuts,
