# Cracking Brazil Nuts

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cracking-brazil-nuts/46112>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 18, 2000, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cracking-brazil-nuts/46112 "2000-12-18T05:24:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2000, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cracking-brazil-nuts/46112/1 "2000-12-18T05:24:09Z")

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Another Christmas season is upon us, which means the usual bags of mixed nuts, including Brazil nuts, which are delicious but very hard to shell. My attempts to open them usually end in a pile of shards with the bits of nut still firmly cemented to the shell. Is there any reliable way to shell these?

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**Author:** ![galyean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f9ae1b/32.png) [@galyean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galyean)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2000, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cracking-brazil-nuts/46112/2 "2000-12-18T05:55:42Z")

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You can soak them in water overnight then boil them for a few minutes, but they have to be eaten right away with this method. Boiling makes the meat taste bad shortly thereafter.

Some report freezing them prior to shelling with good results.