PROCESSING THE TAGUA’S FRUIT (NUTS)
fverac September 19th, 2007
The processing of the fruits begins with the sun drying, once they have been collected. It is custom of our farmers to water or to scatter the product and spread it over tendals (cement floors) for several days of drying. During this process, tagua matures until it arrives at the point to eliminate the rind and, once extracted the pulp, still it has left a very fine rind of black color, that soon is taken to the tendals so that it loses the remaining humidity.
The consistency of tagua is proportional to the drying time increasing the quality and duration of ivory. The plants tolerate the humidity well. Generally, at the time of winter it rains five months per year. This is the reason why it becomes necessary to expose tagua to the sun frequently: to dry it totally and then, to be able to classify it by sizes. Shortly, it will be put thru their respective process of washing and drying.
The cut of the fruit varies in agreement with certain technical considerations and it is perform when the fruit is mature. Later, the drupe is extracted and it is cut in two parts.
For the total loosening of the pulp it is required of eight to fifteen days. This task also can be made immediately after the cut, by using the appropriate tools.
