Tagua nut - the vegetable ivory

We just added tagua nut carvings from Panama as a category on World Travel Art and like to share some of the benefits of this renewable product from the rain forest with you.

The tagua nut, known as well as the "vegetable ivory" is the seed of the female nut palm that grows in parts of Central-, and South America. Female palms bear clusters of large, brown fruits. Each fruit has woody, pointed horns and contains several large seeds. The seeds have an outer shell and a large white endosperm. When the seed is mature it has a texture, hardness and color similar as animal ivory.

Tagua is a sustainable product with several important benefits to the rain forest and the forest people.

• When the female palm starts producing seeds, they can yield over a century or more as much ivory as the trunk of a female elephant. This fact indeed can have an impact on preventing poaching and the illegal trading o mammal ivory as more consumers fighting to protect endangered species being killed for their ivory.
  

• All harvesting of the nuts, which does not harm the tree is done manually and is a labor intensive task. It does ensure income to the rain forest people like the Wounaan and Embera of the Darien Region in Panama. The construction of the Panamerican Highway through parts of their homelands has resulted in deforestation and they are unable to life their traditional tribal lifestyles. Being part of the tagua trade does provide another way to support the families and has given back self-sufficiency and pride to the forest people of Panama.

• Another important benefit of the trade is the environmental aspect. As long as there is money to be made in growing these trees and keep them harvested, it will provide an alternative to cutting down rainforest for farming. It is estimated that product such as the vegetable ivory can generate up to five times the income of banana plantations and cattle ranches.

Tagua was exported in the early 1900's in large quantities to the US and Europe where it was machined and formed into buttons, piano keys, chess set pieces, cane handles, jewelry and dice just to name a few. Synthetics later replaced the tagua nut on the production lines and today it is a popular material for making eco friendly jewelry and beautiful carvings.

Carving has always been a means of artistic expression for the men of the Wounaan and Embera, although formerly they mainly carved woods. The carving of tagua nuts became a natural adaptation of their traditional skills.

Many of the tagua nut carvings from Panama depict the nature of the rain forest but as well sea creatures and other animals. In addition to figurines and jewelry, the nut is also commonly used for making everyday eating and cooking utensils. The nut is being carved with hand tools and polished with a series of fine abrasives. Larger carvings are made out of more than one piece of nut. Other colors are produced by dyeing the nut with natural extracts of plants, and earth. High quality India inks are used on the pieces with colored details.