What is Tagua?

Tagua nut or vegetable ivory, is very similar to a palm, native of the tropical rainforests of South America. Tagua is usually found in groups in swampy territory within the forest. Botanically speaking Tagua is not considered a palm. These plants grow up to 65ft tall and produce an average of sixteen knobbly fruits. The brown fruits are very large, with a a hard and spiky shell containing the nuts. There are about thirty nuts per spike, each nut can measure up to four inches or about the size of an egg.

It takes about fourteen to fifteen years for a tagua plant to produce its first harvest. A mature plant can be harvested three times a year. Each harvest bears about sixteen knobbly fruit spikes. Keep in mind that each fruit spike contains about numerous nuts.

The cultivation, preservation and sustainable harvesting of these trees is highly encouraged and the seeds are picked up after they naturally fall to the ground. The nuts are left to dry under the sun for a few weeks allowing the cellulose pulp to turn to ivory. Since tagua can be died, cut, sliced, carved and lathed it is widely used by artisans to make jewelry and other handicrafts.

Tagua is very hard and durable, but it is sensitive to water. Do not take your tagua products into the shower or a swimming pool. Water will not destroy the tagua, but it will corrode the design and can possibly cause the tagua itself to crack, if submerged for long enough.

Tagua gets an ivory color over time, often turning a rich yellow color with age. This is normal. Some tagua products stay snow white and some turn a rich, dark ivory — each tagua piece is unique. Tagua can be polished by hand with natural waxes (beeswax works well for this) and buffed to a shine. Generally this only needs to be done once a year at most.

In the 1920's Tagua was widely used for crafts and in the fashion industry. About twenty percent of buttons world wide were made out of tagua; however, low-priced synthetic buttons replaced the tagua buttons market.

Nowadays tagua has a great economic value in South America and it is considered a renewable resource. Since vegetable ivory is almost indistinguishable from animal ivory, tagua assists with elephant conservation.

History and Interesting facts
Tagua belongs to the Kingdom Plantae. It is an Angiosperm from the Arecaceae Family. Its Genus is Phytelephas which literally means "plant elephant", so far there are six species of Tagua Plants.
Phytelephas aequatorialis – Ecuadorean Ivory Palm
Phytelephas macrocarpa – Large-fruited Ivory Palm
Phytelephas schottii – Colombian Ivory Palm
Phytelephas seemannii
Phytelephas tenuicaulis
Phytelephas tumacana

Since tagua aids with elephant conservation, vegetable ivory products are seen as an eco friendly alternative. There is a big market for this wonderful nut that ranges from eco friendly jewelry to handicrafts and buttons.