If you’re wondering what tagua is, how it’s used and where it comes from, you’re in the right place.
What is Tagua Nut?
Tagua (also known as vegetable ivory) comes from a type of nut that grows on a palm tree. When mature the nuts are dried and then cut or carved into beautiful sculptures, jewelry, and souvenirs.
The nuts are non-toxic, eco-friendly, and sustainable. They are harvested without harming the trees which result in protecting the rainforest and its animals.
They are often dyed before being made into jewelry but are also used without dying. When natural you can see where the ivory comparison comes from because once the brown outer layer is removed the nut is a beautiful ivory color, perfect for carving.
How big is a Tagua nut?
Each tagua nut is around 5-7 cm (2 to 3 inches) long and usually up to 5 cm (2 inches) in diameter, but can be smaller or larger. They are round/oval and covered in a dark brown skin.
The nuts are found within a larger husk that is thick and covered in spines. Each spiny husk usually contains around 4 or 5 seeds/nuts.
The palm trees (P. aequatorialis) grow to about 8 meters (26 feet) high.
Tagua?
What is Vegetable Ivory?
Vegetable ivory (also called tagua) is what many call the nut from a palm tree grown in South America. The interior of the nut looks just like elephant ivory, it even has a natural shine.
But vegetable ivory is vegan because it comes from a tree and is in no way related to elephant ivory. It’s also called palm ivory. Because it is hard, shiny, smooth and easy to carve it is very popular for jewelry making and carving into small sculptures. I bet if elephants could talk they would praise it too!
Vegetable ivory grows on a palm tree. The ivory-colored nuts are found inside of thick spiny pods, or mocochas.
There are about 10 large round mocochas growing on each tree. They are found at the base of the green palm leaves. Each mococha holds around 50 to 100 nuts.
When mature they fall to the ground or are harvested. The mocochas are made up of tightly packed spiky sections. Inside of each section, you’ll find 4 or 5 round/oval dark brown nuts. The nuts are left to dry for a few months.
When the brown skin is removed from the nut you see the ivory vegetable or tagua nut.
What is tagua nut jewelry?
Tagua jewelry is usually made from the seeds/nuts of the Phytelephas palm trees. These nuts are ivory in color but are often dyed before being made into jewelry. Vegetable dye is often used for tagua jewelry.
There is a rough brown skin on the nut which is often removed from the nut before processing but sometimes parts of it are left as a design element.
Once dyed they are polished again with little bits of wood and wax to add shine, then made into beads for jewelry making.
This jewelry is often handmade and each piece is unique because of the shape and coloring of the nuts.
Tagua nut jewelry is made as:
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Necklaces
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Bracelets
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Earrings
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Rings
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Belts
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Hair clips
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Broaches
Tagua Jewelry
The tagua nut is non-toxic (before it’s dyed and processed) but there are some cautions you may want to take to keep your jewelry and sculptures looking their best.
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Tagua is susceptible to water damage. A little bit of water isn’t going to hurt, if for example it gets splashed or you wipe it off with a damp cloth. But if it sits in water, or is left out in the rain it could become soft and suffer damage.
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Dyed tagua is also likely to fade from sun exposure. So keep your tagua jewelry away from sunlight during storage
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This is a natural seed/nut, so mentioning you have tagua products when going through customs will keep you “better safe than sorry”.
Cautions with Tagua Nut
