Chocolate Brazil Nuts

Chocolate Brazil Nuts

There’s a joke about a bowl of brazil nuts, previously covered in chocolate. Send me the joke, and I’ll send you a box of the best chocolate covered brazils. Chocolate brazils are synonymous with Xmas. 

Everyone knows somebody who must have a box or two in their Christmas stocking or as their secret Santa gift.

But why are these the most popular chocolate covered nut?

After extensive research, the only answer can be financial prestige or one-up-man-ship. Let’s go back to the reign of Henry VIII (1491-1547). Renowned for its lavish banquets. 

Hilary Mantel’s The Mirror and the Light writes about servants bringing in plates of almonds and dried fruit. She references hazelnuts, fruit jellies and figs. Further on, she describes magnificent cakes topped with white balls, which I imagine to be marzipan—made from almonds. 

Image Henry VII when given a large brown seed, similar in shape and colour to a rugby ball. He orders his servants to crack it open, inside are 16 to 20 small pebble-like nuts. Each nut is unique in size and shape; they fit next to each other like an intricate puzzle. The nuts are released, cracked open to reveal a creamy nut. Slightly meaty in flavour and moist in texture but difficult to the bite.

Nothing similar is grown in England or Europe, an alien species of nut, Traded and exported by the Portuguese from their colonies in South America, especially Brazil. The brazil nut signifies money and social status. 

Unfortunately, the primitive dental hygiene during the 1500s impedes their popularity, and their hard bite sees a decline in their favour. 

Fast forward one hundred years to the reign of Charles II (1630-1685). For the first time in history, traders are exporting cocoa and chocolate into England. These new imports prompt a renewed interest in the brazil nut.

Why, because it has been combined with chocolate to form the ultimate status symbol. The combination of chocolate from the exotic east fused with nuts from the native west. Serving chocolate covered brazil nuts became a strategy of the rich, a showpiece, a status symbol. 

Between the 1500s and 1600s, dental practices didn’t change. However, no one minded if you couldn’t manage to eat the brazil. You would eat the chocolate and leave the brazil in a bowl, symbolising power, wealth, and decadence. 

And that is why the brazil nut is the most popular covered chocolate nut. Now, does anyone remember the joke?

I would like to publicly thank Julian C for his help and guidance since the beginning of the pandemic. We don’t know each other, but he has been my guardian angel. Encouraging me and giving me the confidence to write and publish a weekly blog. THANK YOU JULIAN

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