The Macadamia Nut (Native Delicacy From Australia)

The nuts are a valuable food crop. Only two of the species, Macadamia integrifolia and Macadamia tetraphylla, are of commercial importance. The remainder of the genus possess poisonous and/or inedible nuts, such as M. whelanii and M. ternifolia; the toxicity is due to the presence of cyanogenic glycosides.

Botanist Walter Hill watched his young assistant in horror. The boy had just eaten nuts from a newly discovered species of tree growing in the subtropical rain forests of southeast Queensland, Australia. Hill had heard that the nuts were poisonous. But the lad neither became ill nor dropped dead. Instead, he found himself agreed. Soon thereafter he began distributing macadamia seedlings to friends and botanists around the world.

Today, some 150 years later, macadamia nuts are popular worldwide – and for good reason. The journal Chronica Horticulturae explains: “The macadamia is considered one of the world’s finest gourmet nuts because of its unique, delicate flavor, its fine crunchy texture, and rich creamy colour.” Little wonder that macadamia nuts are Australia’s most successful indigenous food crop!

Macadamia trees flourish along the subtropical coast of Australia. Among nine of the species, only two produce edible nuts, which consists of a fibrous outer husk; a tan, spherical shell, and a marble-size, cream-colored kernel.

The shell is however really tough to crack and is also used for making excellent industrial abrasive. The Aborigines used rocks. Pioneer orchardist John Waldron used a hammer and anvil to open about some eight million nuts over a period of 50 years. Machines were also used to crack open the nuts but they damaged the kernel which were not acceptable and soon better designs were made with more effective results.

The macadamia tree also had a problem of reproduction. When planted, nuts from good trees produced poor quality offspring. And all efforts at grafting failed. And faced with this difficulty, cultivation for commercial use stopped almost came to a stop until the Hawaiians found a way to solve the problem. They made the needed breakthroughs. And soon enough were supplying about 90(%) percent of the world’s macadamia nuts. And later on the nuts soon came to be known as Hawaiian nuts.

Later on, Australian growers in the 1960’s took the macadamia nut as a commercial crop, using the methods the Hawaiian people, and soon enough the local industry yielded in growth which then increased Australia’s production to about 50(%) percent of the world’s macadamia nuts. These nuts also grow in Central America, Asia, and Africa.

Are macadamia nuts healthful and healthy? A government fact sheet on macadamia-nut culture says “that the oil content of the nut which is (largely monounsaturated oil, or good oil) exceeds 72%, which is makes it the highest of any oil-giving nut.” Actually a modest consumption of the nuts can reduce harmful low-density cholesterol and lower high blood pressure.

Macadamia nuts is a a very good food source for everyone, some people prefer macadamia nuts simply straight from the shell, roasted, or salted. And some people just prefer it in chocolate candy, premium ice cream, and gourmet cookie.