9 Nutty Facts About Hard-Shelled Fruit

Part-Time Genius

iHeartPodcasts and Kaleidoscope

Society & Culture

4.5 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 3 March 2026

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Why did people start (and stop) dyeing pistachios red? How do thieves pull off high-stakes nut heists? What’s up with the coconut that looks like a butt? And why do so many members of the PTG team have beef with pine nuts? Today, we’re cracking the delicious mysteries of nuts (and, yes, things that aren’t technically nuts).

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is an IHeart podcast.
0:02.6	Guaranteed Human.
0:18.7	You're listening to Part-Time Genius,
0:20.8	the production of kaleidoscope and IHeart Radio.
0:28.3	Guess what, Will?
0:29.4	What's that, Gabe?
0:30.4	When I say Brazil nuts, is there a specific country that comes to mind for you?
0:36.2	Call me crazy, but I feel like there should be an obvious answer to this one.
0:39.7	I don't know if this is a trick question, but I'm going to guess Brazil?
0:43.0	Yeah, it is a trick question.
0:45.0	The answer I'm looking for was Bolivia.
0:48.0	No way.
0:48.4	Which actually produces almost as many Brazil nuts as Brazil.
0:53.4	Together, the two countries are responsible for 90% of
0:56.7	the world's Brazil nut crop, and Bolivia exports more of the processed and shelled nuts than Brazil.
1:03.6	So if I go buy a bag of trail mix with Brazil nuts in it, I'm probably eating Bolivia nuts.
1:09.7	Mm-hmm. That's right.
1:11.6	All right.
1:13.9	So how come Brazil gets all the glory here?
1:17.2	I mean, as with most things, blame the conquistadors, right?
1:17.5	Right.
1:24.2	Brazil nut trees are native to the Amazon, particularly Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru.
	...

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