Universal Nut Sheller

Every year, in Africa alone, women spend about 4 billion hours shelling peanuts by hand. For many of the poorest families, peanuts are the only protein they can afford. For many they a crop of choice to take to market, but they have little value in the shell. And a sun-dried, unroasted peanut in the shell is much tougher than the roasted-in-the-shell kind wealthy people buy in the supermarket. 1 kilo or a little more than 2 lbs an hour is a normal shelling rate. And women, through their skin, can absorb the very toxic aflatoxins that can develop on the outside of the shell.

The Full Belly Project's award winning (Popular Mechanics, MIT) Universal Nut Sheller does peanuts at the rate of 50 kg/hr (120 lbs/hr). Adjustable for any size of nut. Because of their softer shell, aflatoxin contaminated peanuts tend to pass through unshelled for easy sorting.

In 2001, Jock traveled to Mali to fix a small village's water treatment system. While there he came across a woman who informed him that it would be of great service to her village if he could find an affordable peanut sheller for them. Upon returning to the United States he contacted peanut authority Dr. Tim Williams of the University of Georgia who told Brandis of a Bulgarian Peanut Shelling design. Jock adapted the design with help from a friend Wes Perry. Jock went through several iterations of a redesign and one year later he completed the machine that is now called the Universal Nut Sheller.

Publicly available: yes
Countries where available: Worldwide
Price range (USD): Contact supplier for quote
Available online: yes
Offered or can be licensed for local manufacture: yes