Vegetable Ivory The ivory nut palm, Phytelephas Macrocarpa, is well known to the indigenous peoples. Tagua nut, Corozo nut, or vegetable ivory are other names used for the nut that grows in the rainforest of South America. It is the female palms that produce the fruit. The inhabitants use its young leaves and nuts as food. Stems are split and used for flooring; its leaves are used for roofing. Some parts of the palm are made into brooms. The palm roots are boiled for a diuretic medicine. The mature nut is used for making buttons, toys, and carving figures. They wasted no part of this tagua (ivory, corozo) nut palm.
Historically, the Spanish who colonized South America would carve religious figures from the corozo (ivory nut). These figures are now about four hundred years old, and can be found in museums. In 1820, Mr. Loddiges was able to grow the first ivory nuts in Europe in a greenhouse in England. Ivory nut buttons were first made in 1859 by Mr. Leeds of Massachuetts and Johan Hille of Austria. In Germany in 1860, Herr Donath, used ivory nuts to fashion handles for his umbrellas. For at least the next eighty years, the ivory nut was used on three continents to produce many products. It was also reported in 1917 that the nuts could be ground and mixed with feed for cows, and the milk production increased. With the development of synthetics in the 1940's, the world market for vegetable ivory was ruined. By 1960, very few ivory nut button factories existed. The product is still used in Asia for art pieces, game pieces, and jewelry. The 1970's brought the possibility that the African elephants were facing extinction as a result of poaching for their ivory tusks, civilization, and war. Ivory-bearing sperm whale and narwhal were being hunted into extinction by the Japanese and Russians because the price of animal ivory was so high and so was the profit.
As you can imagine, environmentalists and humanitarians appreciate the vegetable ivory coming back on the world stage. It has helped the South American economies of southern Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. It is another option to cutting down rainforest to farm, and it should stop the killing of elephants for their tusks. The peoples of these countries make necklaces and small sculptures reflecting their countries' heritage. It is difficult to carve, so a lathe may be used in processing the ornaments.
Young nuts or seeds are gelatinous and can be eaten. The nuts are of various sizes as small as a cherry to as large as an avocado. The corozo is a very hard nut after processing. They must be dried in the sun for one to three months, polished, and cut. They can generally be found on the ground of the rainforest. Animals will probably have eaten the outer brown-flaky skin. The Phytelephas palm tree can produce around 20 kg of the vegetable ivory a year. This vegetable ivory is like the animal ivory. That is how it got its name; its is similar in hardness, color, and texture to animal ivory. This is a wonderful renewalable resource with no impact on the natural environment.
After the market for vegetable ivory was ruined in the 1940's because of cheap plastic, Tagua has again become popular. It is considered a renewalable and ethical alternative to the use of whales, elephants, and walrus tusks.
Ecuador is the largest exporter of buttons made from vegetable ivory. Famous clothing designers such as Pierre Cardin, Hugo Boss, and Valentino Rossi are buyers of Ecuadoran buttons made from vegetable ivory. It is believed that the best tagua (vegetable ivory) is grown in this country. Today, tagua is widely used for games, umbrella handles and carvings like it was in the past. However, now you will find Tagua (vegetable ivory) used to fashion beads, barrels, rounds, donuts, and discs for jewelry. But never forget, its standard use as a button; you will most likely find vegetable ivory in your closet.
