Macadamia
Encyclopedia
Macadamia is a genus
of nine species
of flowering plant
s in the family Proteaceae
, with a disjunct distribution
native to eastern Australia
(seven species), New Caledonia
(one species M. neurophylla) and Sulawesi
in Indonesia
(one species, M. hildebrandii).
They are small to large evergreen
tree
s growing to 2–12 m tall. The leaves
are arranged in whorls of three to six, lanceolate to obovate or elliptical in shape
, 6–30 cm long and 2–13 cm broad, with an entire or spiny-serrated margin. The flower
s are produced in a long slender simple raceme
5–30 cm long, the individual flowers 10–15 mm long, white to pink or purple, with four tepal
s. The fruit
is a very hard woody globose follicle
with a pointed apex, containing one or two seed
s.
The genus is named after John Macadam
, a colleague of botanist
Ferdinand von Mueller
, who first described the genus. Common names include Macadamia, Macadamia nut, Queensland nut, Bush nut, Maroochi nut, Queen of Nuts and bauple nut; Indigenous Australian
names include gyndl, jindilli, and boombera.
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
. These glycosides can be removed by prolonged leaching, a practice carried out by some Indigenous Australian people in order to use these species as well.
The two species of edible macadamia readily hybridize, and M. tetraphylla is threatened in the wild due to this. The nut was first described by Europeans south of Brisbane in 1828 by the explorer and botanist Alan Cunningham
. One of the locations where wild nut trees were originally found was at Mount Bauple
near Maryborough
in southeast Queensland
, Australia. Locals in this area still refer to them as "Bauple nuts". The macadamia nut is the only plant food native to Australia that is produced and exported in any significant quantity.
The first commercial orchard of macadamia trees was planted in the early 1880s by Charles Staff at Rous Mill, 12 km southeast of Lismore, New South Wales
, consisting of M. tetraphylla. Besides the development of a small boutique industry in Australia during the late 19th and early 20th century, macadamia was extensively planted as a commercial crop in Hawaii
from the 1920s. Macadamia seeds were first imported into Hawaii in 1882 by William H. Purvis
. The young manager of the Pacific Sugar Mill at Kukuihaele on the Big Island, planted seed nuts that year at Kapulena.
The Hawaiian-produced macadamia established the nut internationally. However, in 2006, macadamia production began to fall in Hawaii, due to lower prices from an over-supply.
Outside of Hawaii and Australia, macadamia is also commercially produced in South Africa
, Brazil
, California
, Costa Rica
, Israel
, Kenya
, Bolivia
, New Zealand
, Colombia
and Malawi
. Australia is now the world's largest commercial producer – accounting for roughly 40% of the approximately 100,000 tonnes of nut in shell per year produced globally.
normal hand height onto a floor surface that is relatively hard and solid, e.g. concrete or tiles. Subsequent shaking of the nut and hearing the nutmeat rattling inside indicates that the nut is loose from its shell, and can thus be cracked with a higher intact-nut-yield ratio. Nuts that do not rattle have not dried sufficiently to reduce the moisture content and allow the nut to shrink away from the shell. Periodically a nut will not rattle regardless of its moisture content due to the orientation of the kernel.
To penetrate the Nuts hard protective shell, a metal vice or hammer can be used. Compress the shell until it lightly fractures, then release the pressure and reposition the nut to crack it along a different plane. Similarly when using a hammer, metal or wooden, a light force is to be applied when striking the shell as to be careful not to damage the inner vulnerable and edible seed
In Poland a common method used is roasting of these hard shells in an open pan . This allows them to Crack very easily, as seen in Polish culture during celebrations, the groom will after cracking begin to dance in a Jovial manner . In Malawi, the Macadamia tree was first introduced in tea plantations as wind shields in the low tea fields and the tea pickers used to roast the nuts in this style as a fatty snack.
and low in protein
. They have the highest amount of beneficial monounsaturated fats of any known nut, but also contains approximately 22% of omega-7 palmitoleic acid
, which has biological effects similar to saturated fat. They also contain 9% protein, 9% carbohydrate
, 2% dietary fiber
, as well as calcium
, phosphorus
, potassium
, sodium
, selenium
, iron
, thiamine
, riboflavin
and niacin
.
Macadamias are toxic to dog
s. Ingestion may result in macadamia nut toxicosis which is marked by weakness
and hind limb paralysis with the inability to stand, occurring within 12 hours of ingestion. Depending on the quantity ingested and size of the dog, symptoms may also include muscle tremors, joint pain and severe abdominal pain. In high doses of toxicity opiate medication may be required for symptom relief until the toxic effects diminish. Full recovery is usually within 24 to 48 hours.
is prized for containing approximately 22% of the omega-7 palmitoleic acid
, which makes it a botanical alternative to mink oil
, which contains approximately 17%. This relatively high content of "cushiony" palmitoleic acid plus macadamia's high oxidative stability make it a desirable ingredient in cosmetics, especially skincare.
s in subtropical regions for their glossy foliage and attractive flowers.
Macadamia species are used as food plants by the larva
e of some Lepidoptera
species including Batrachedra arenosella
.
Macadamia nuts are often used by law enforcement to simulate crack cocaine
in drug stings. When chopped, the nuts resemble crack cocaine in color..
The macadamia tree is usually propagated by grafting
, and does not begin to produce commercial quantities of nuts until it is 7–10 years old, but once established, may continue bearing for over 100 years. Macadamias prefer fertile, well-drained soils, a rainfall of 1,000–2,000 mm, and temperatures not falling below 10 °C (although once established they can withstand light frosts), with an optimum temperature of 25 °C. The roots are shallow and trees can be blown down in storms; they are also susceptible to Phytophthora
root disease.
The macadamia nut has an extremely hard shell, but can be cracked using a blunt instrument, such as a hammer or rock applied with some force to the nut sitting in a concave surface.
Macadamia nuts are often fed to Hyacinth Macaw
s in captivity. These large parrot
s are one of the few animals, aside from humans, capable of cracking and shelling the nut.
Nuts of the "Arkin Papershell" variety crack open more readily.
. One of these nuts was called gyndl or jindilli (Macadamia integrifolia), which was later borrowed as kindal kindal by early Europeans. In New South Wales, the southern species is known traditionally as boombera (Macadamia tetraphylla).
1828
1857
1858
1860s
1881
1882
1889
1910
1922
1925
1931
1937
1940s
1946
1953
1964
1997
2001
2003
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of nine species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of flowering plant
Flowering plant
The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...
s in the family Proteaceae
Proteaceae
Proteaceae is a family of flowering plants distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises about 80 genera with about 1600 species. Together with the Platanaceae and Nelumbonaceae they make up the order Proteales. Well known genera include Protea, Banksia, Embothrium, Grevillea,...
, with a disjunct distribution
Disjunct distribution
In biology, a taxon with a disjunct distribution is one that has two or more groups that are related but widely separated from each other geographically...
native to eastern Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
(seven species), New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
(one species M. neurophylla) and Sulawesi
Sulawesi
Sulawesi is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia and is situated between Borneo and the Maluku Islands. In Indonesia, only Sumatra, Borneo, and Papua are larger in territory, and only Java and Sumatra have larger Indonesian populations.- Etymology :The Portuguese were the first to...
in Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
(one species, M. hildebrandii).
They are small to large evergreen
Evergreen
In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...
tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
s growing to 2–12 m tall. The leaves
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
are arranged in whorls of three to six, lanceolate to obovate or elliptical in shape
Leaf shape
In botany, leaf shape is characterised with the following terms :* Acicular : Slender and pointed, needle-like* Acuminate : Tapering to a long point...
, 6–30 cm long and 2–13 cm broad, with an entire or spiny-serrated margin. The flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s are produced in a long slender simple raceme
Raceme
A raceme is a type of inflorescence that is unbranched and indeterminate and bears pedicellate flowers — flowers having short floral stalks called pedicels — along the axis. In botany, axis means a shoot, in this case one bearing the flowers. In a raceme, the oldest flowers are borne...
5–30 cm long, the individual flowers 10–15 mm long, white to pink or purple, with four tepal
Tepal
Tepals are elements of the perianth, or outer part of a flower, which include the petals or sepals. The term tepal is more often applied specifically when all segments of the perianth are of similar shape and color, or undifferentiated, which is called perigone...
s. The fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
is a very hard woody globose follicle
Follicle (fruit)
In botany, a follicle is a dry unilocular many-seeded fruit formed from one carpel and dehiscing by the ventral suture in order to release seeds, such as in larkspur, magnolia, banksia, peony and milkweed....
with a pointed apex, containing one or two seed
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
s.
The genus is named after John Macadam
John Macadam
Dr. John Macadam , was an Australian chemist, medical teacher and politician. The genus Macadamia was named after him in 1857 by his colleague Ferdinand von Mueller....
, a colleague of botanist
Botany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
Ferdinand von Mueller
Ferdinand von Mueller
Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, KCMG was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist.-Early life:...
, who first described the genus. Common names include Macadamia, Macadamia nut, Queensland nut, Bush nut, Maroochi nut, Queen of Nuts and bauple nut; Indigenous Australian
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
names include gyndl, jindilli, and boombera.
Production
The nutsNut (fruit)
A nut is a hard-shelled fruit of some plants having an indehiscent seed. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts in English, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts...
are a valuable food crop. Only two of the species, Macadamia integrifolia
Macadamia integrifolia
Macadamia integrifolia is a tree in the Proteaceae family, native to Queensland in Australia. Common names include Macadamia Nut, Bauple Nut, Queensland Nut or Nut Oak....
and Macadamia tetraphylla
Macadamia tetraphylla
Macadamia tetraphylla is a tree in the Proteaceae family, native to Queensland in Australia. Common names include Macadamia Nut, Bauple Nut, Prickly Macadamia, Queensland Nut, Rough-shelled Bush Nut and Rough-shelled Queensland NutThis species has dense foliage and grows up to 18 metres in height...
, 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
Glycoside
In chemistry, a glycoside is a molecule in which a sugar is bound to a non-carbohydrate moiety, usually a small organic molecule. Glycosides play numerous important roles in living organisms. Many plants store chemicals in the form of inactive glycosides. These can be activated by enzyme...
. These glycosides can be removed by prolonged leaching, a practice carried out by some Indigenous Australian people in order to use these species as well.
The two species of edible macadamia readily hybridize, and M. tetraphylla is threatened in the wild due to this. The nut was first described by Europeans south of Brisbane in 1828 by the explorer and botanist Alan Cunningham
Allan Cunningham (botanist)
Allan Cunningham was an English botanist and explorer, primarily known for his travels in New South Wales to collect plants.- Early life :...
. One of the locations where wild nut trees were originally found was at Mount Bauple
Mount Bauple National Park
Mount Bauple is a scientific national park in Queensland, Australia, 190 km north of Brisbane....
near Maryborough
Maryborough, Queensland
Maryborough is a city located on the Mary River in South East Queensland, Australia, approximately north of the state capital, Brisbane. The city is serviced by the Bruce Highway, and has a population of approximately 22,000 . It is closely tied to its neighbour city Hervey Bay which is...
in southeast Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
, Australia. Locals in this area still refer to them as "Bauple nuts". The macadamia nut is the only plant food native to Australia that is produced and exported in any significant quantity.
The first commercial orchard of macadamia trees was planted in the early 1880s by Charles Staff at Rous Mill, 12 km southeast of Lismore, New South Wales
Lismore, New South Wales
Lismore is a subtropical town in northeastern New South Wales, Australia. Lismore is the main population centre in the City of Lismore local government area. Lismore is a regional centre in the Northern Rivers region of the State.-History:...
, consisting of M. tetraphylla. Besides the development of a small boutique industry in Australia during the late 19th and early 20th century, macadamia was extensively planted as a commercial crop in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
from the 1920s. Macadamia seeds were first imported into Hawaii in 1882 by William H. Purvis
William H. Purvis
William Herbert Purvis was a plant collector and investor in a sugar plantation on the island of Hawaii during the late nineteenth century....
. The young manager of the Pacific Sugar Mill at Kukuihaele on the Big Island, planted seed nuts that year at Kapulena.
The Hawaiian-produced macadamia established the nut internationally. However, in 2006, macadamia production began to fall in Hawaii, due to lower prices from an over-supply.
Outside of Hawaii and Australia, macadamia is also commercially produced in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
and Malawi
Malawi
The Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. Its size...
. Australia is now the world's largest commercial producer – accounting for roughly 40% of the approximately 100,000 tonnes of nut in shell per year produced globally.
Processing
Assessment as to whether a macadamia nut has undergone sufficient drying to ensure that the moisture content is low, can be undergone by dropping the Macadamia nuts in their shell fromnormal hand height onto a floor surface that is relatively hard and solid, e.g. concrete or tiles. Subsequent shaking of the nut and hearing the nutmeat rattling inside indicates that the nut is loose from its shell, and can thus be cracked with a higher intact-nut-yield ratio. Nuts that do not rattle have not dried sufficiently to reduce the moisture content and allow the nut to shrink away from the shell. Periodically a nut will not rattle regardless of its moisture content due to the orientation of the kernel.
To penetrate the Nuts hard protective shell, a metal vice or hammer can be used. Compress the shell until it lightly fractures, then release the pressure and reposition the nut to crack it along a different plane. Similarly when using a hammer, metal or wooden, a light force is to be applied when striking the shell as to be careful not to damage the inner vulnerable and edible seed
In Poland a common method used is roasting of these hard shells in an open pan . This allows them to Crack very easily, as seen in Polish culture during celebrations, the groom will after cracking begin to dance in a Jovial manner . In Malawi, the Macadamia tree was first introduced in tea plantations as wind shields in the low tea fields and the tea pickers used to roast the nuts in this style as a fatty snack.
Nutritional qualities
Compared to other common edible nuts like almonds and cashews, macadamias are high in fatFat
Fats consist of a wide group of compounds that are generally soluble in organic solvents and generally insoluble in water. Chemically, fats are triglycerides, triesters of glycerol and any of several fatty acids. Fats may be either solid or liquid at room temperature, depending on their structure...
and low in protein
Protein
Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...
. They have the highest amount of beneficial monounsaturated fats of any known nut, but also contains approximately 22% of omega-7 palmitoleic acid
Palmitoleic acid
Palmitoleic acid, or -9-hexadecenoic acid, is an omega-7 monounsaturated fatty acid with the formula CH35CH=CH7COOH that is a common constituent of the glycerides of human adipose tissue. It is present in all tissues, but generally found in higher concentrations in the liver...
, which has biological effects similar to saturated fat. They also contain 9% protein, 9% carbohydrate
Carbohydrate
A carbohydrate is an organic compound with the empirical formula ; that is, consists only of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, with a hydrogen:oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 . However, there are exceptions to this. One common example would be deoxyribose, a component of DNA, which has the empirical...
, 2% dietary fiber
Dietary fiber
Dietary fiber, dietary fibre, or sometimes roughage is the indigestible portion of plant foods having two main components:* soluble fiber that is readily fermented in the colon into gases and physiologically active byproducts, and* insoluble fiber that is metabolically inert, absorbing water as it...
, as well as calcium
Calcium
Calcium is the chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. It has an atomic mass of 40.078 amu. Calcium is a soft gray alkaline earth metal, and is the fifth-most-abundant element by mass in the Earth's crust...
, phosphorus
Phosphorus
Phosphorus is the chemical element that has the symbol P and atomic number 15. A multivalent nonmetal of the nitrogen group, phosphorus as a mineral is almost always present in its maximally oxidized state, as inorganic phosphate rocks...
, potassium
Potassium
Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K and atomic number 19. Elemental potassium is a soft silvery-white alkali metal that oxidizes rapidly in air and is very reactive with water, generating sufficient heat to ignite the hydrogen emitted in the reaction.Potassium and sodium are...
, sodium
Sodium
Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal and is a member of the alkali metals; its only stable isotope is 23Na. It is an abundant element that exists in numerous minerals, most commonly as sodium chloride...
, selenium
Selenium
Selenium is a chemical element with atomic number 34, chemical symbol Se, and an atomic mass of 78.96. It is a nonmetal, whose properties are intermediate between those of adjacent chalcogen elements sulfur and tellurium...
, iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
, thiamine
Thiamine
Thiamine or thiamin or vitamin B1 , named as the "thio-vitamine" is a water-soluble vitamin of the B complex. First named aneurin for the detrimental neurological effects if not present in the diet, it was eventually assigned the generic descriptor name vitamin B1. Its phosphate derivatives are...
, riboflavin
Riboflavin
Riboflavin, also known as vitamin B2 or additive E101, is an easily absorbed micronutrient with a key role in maintaining health in humans and animals. It is the central component of the cofactors FAD and FMN, and is therefore required by all flavoproteins. As such, vitamin B2 is required for a...
and niacin
Niacin
"Niacin" redirects here. For the neo-fusion band, see Niacin .Niacin is an organic compound with the formula and, depending on the definition used, one of the forty to eighty essential human nutrients.Niacin is one of five vitamins associated with a pandemic deficiency disease: niacin deficiency...
.
Macadamias are toxic to dog
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
s. Ingestion may result in macadamia nut toxicosis which is marked by weakness
Weakness
Weakness is a symptom represented, medically, by a number of different conditions, including: lack of muscle strength, malaise, dizziness, or fatigue. The causes are many and can be divided into conditions that have true or perceived muscle weakness. True muscle weakness is a primary symptom of a...
and hind limb paralysis with the inability to stand, occurring within 12 hours of ingestion. Depending on the quantity ingested and size of the dog, symptoms may also include muscle tremors, joint pain and severe abdominal pain. In high doses of toxicity opiate medication may be required for symptom relief until the toxic effects diminish. Full recovery is usually within 24 to 48 hours.
Skincare
Macadamia oilMacadamia oil
Macadamia oil is the non-volatile oil expressed from the nut meat of the macadamia tree, a native Australian nut...
is prized for containing approximately 22% of the omega-7 palmitoleic acid
Palmitoleic acid
Palmitoleic acid, or -9-hexadecenoic acid, is an omega-7 monounsaturated fatty acid with the formula CH35CH=CH7COOH that is a common constituent of the glycerides of human adipose tissue. It is present in all tissues, but generally found in higher concentrations in the liver...
, which makes it a botanical alternative to mink oil
Mink oil
Mink oil is made from mink fat and originates from China. The fat that is made into this oil is stored just beneath the skin. Removed from pelts destined for the fur industry, the fat is rendered into mink oil....
, which contains approximately 17%. This relatively high content of "cushiony" palmitoleic acid plus macadamia's high oxidative stability make it a desirable ingredient in cosmetics, especially skincare.
Other uses
The trees are also grown as ornamental plantOrnamental plant
Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...
s in subtropical regions for their glossy foliage and attractive flowers.
Macadamia species are used as food plants by the larva
Larva
A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
e of some Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...
species including Batrachedra arenosella
Batrachedra
Batrachedra is the largest genus in the moth family Batrachedridae.It includes the following species:*Batrachedra acrodeta*Batrachedra agaura*Batrachedra albanica*Batrachedra albicapitella*Batrachedra albistrigella...
.
Macadamia nuts are often used by law enforcement to simulate crack cocaine
Crack cocaine
Crack cocaine is the freebase form of cocaine that can be smoked. It may also be termed rock, hard, iron, cavvy, base, or just crack; it is the most addictive form of cocaine. Crack rocks offer a short but intense high to smokers...
in drug stings. When chopped, the nuts resemble crack cocaine in color..
Cultivation and processing
Grafting
Grafting is a horticultural technique whereby tissues from one plant are inserted into those of another so that the two sets of vascular tissues may join together. This vascular joining is called inosculation...
, and does not begin to produce commercial quantities of nuts until it is 7–10 years old, but once established, may continue bearing for over 100 years. Macadamias prefer fertile, well-drained soils, a rainfall of 1,000–2,000 mm, and temperatures not falling below 10 °C (although once established they can withstand light frosts), with an optimum temperature of 25 °C. The roots are shallow and trees can be blown down in storms; they are also susceptible to Phytophthora
Phytophthora
Phytophthora is a genus of plant-damaging Oomycetes , whose member species are capable of causing enormous economic losses on crops worldwide, as well as environmental damage in natural ecosystems. The genus was first described by Heinrich Anton de Bary in 1875...
root disease.
The macadamia nut has an extremely hard shell, but can be cracked using a blunt instrument, such as a hammer or rock applied with some force to the nut sitting in a concave surface.
Macadamia nuts are often fed to Hyacinth Macaw
Hyacinth Macaw
The Hyacinth Macaw , or Hyacinthine Macaw, is a parrot native to central and eastern South America. With a length of about 100 cm it is longer than any other species of parrot...
s in captivity. These large parrot
Parrot
Parrots, also known as psittacines , are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three families: the Psittacidae , the Cacatuidae and the Strigopidae...
s are one of the few animals, aside from humans, capable of cracking and shelling the nut.
Nuts of the "Arkin Papershell" variety crack open more readily.
Beaumont
A M. integrifolia / M. tetraphylla hybrid commercial variety widely planted in Australia and New Zealand and discovered by Dr. J. H. Beaumont. It has a good taste, high in oil, but not sweet. New leaves are reddish, flowers bright pink, borne on long racemes. It is one of the quickest varieties to come into bearing once planted in the garden, usually carrying a useful crop by the fourth year, and improving from then on. It crops prodigiously when well pollinated. The impressive grape-like clusters of nuts are sometimes so heavy they break the branchlet they are attached to. In commercial orchards, it has reached 18 kg of nuts per tree by 8 years old. On the downside, the nuts do not drop from the tree when ripe and the leaves are a bit prickly when you are reaching into the interior of the tree during harvest. Beaumonts' shell is easier to open than that of most commercial varieties.Maroochy
A pure M. tetraphylla variety from Australia, the tree is productive, and the small nut has a particularly good flavor. It is a good pollinator for Beaumont.Nelmac II
A South African M. integrifolia / M. tetraphylla hybrid cultivar. It has a sweet nut, which means that it has to be cooked carefully so that the sugars do not caramelise. The sweet nut does not taste good when processed, but people who eat it uncooked relish the taste. The nut has an open micropyle (hole in the shell) which lets in mould. The crack out percentage is high. Ten year old trees average 22 kg per tree. It is a popular variety because of its pollination of Beaumont, and the yields are almost comparable.Renown
A M. integrifolia / M. tetraphylla hybrid. A rather spreading tree. On the plus side it is high yielding (commercially, 17 kg off a 9 year old tree has been recorded), and the nuts drop to the ground, but the nut is thick shelled, and with not much flavor.History
For thousands of years before European settlement the aborigines ate the native nut that grew in rainforests of eastern AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. One of these nuts was called gyndl or jindilli (Macadamia integrifolia), which was later borrowed as kindal kindal by early Europeans. In New South Wales, the southern species is known traditionally as boombera (Macadamia tetraphylla).
1828
- Allan CunninghamAllan Cunningham (botanist)Allan Cunningham was an English botanist and explorer, primarily known for his travels in New South Wales to collect plants.- Early life :...
is the first European to discover the macadamia plant.
1857
- German-Australian botanist Ferdinand von MuellerFerdinand von MuellerBaron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, KCMG was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist.-Early life:...
gave the genus the scientific name Macadamia – named after von Mueller’s friend Dr. John MacadamJohn MacadamDr. John Macadam , was an Australian chemist, medical teacher and politician. The genus Macadamia was named after him in 1857 by his colleague Ferdinand von Mueller....
, a noted scientist and secretary to the Philosophical Institute of Australia.
1858
- Walter HillWalter Hill (garden curator)Walter Hill was the first curator of the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens, located at Gardens Point, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.-Personal life:...
, Superintendent of the Brisbane City Botanical Gardens, observes a boy eating the nut without ill effect, becoming the first non-indigenous person recorded to eat Macadamia.
1860s
- King Jacky, Aboriginal elder of the Logan River clan, south of Brisbane, Queensland, is the first known macadamia nut entrepreneur as he and his tribe regularly collected and traded the nuts with settlers.
1881
- William H. Purvis introduces macadamia nuts to Hawaii as a windbreak for sugar cane.
1882
- First commercial orchard of macadamia nuts planted at Rous Mill, 12 km from Lismore, by Charles Staff.
1889
- Joseph MaidenJoseph MaidenJoseph Henry Maiden was a botanist who made a major contribution to knowledge of the Australian flora, especially the Eucalyptus genus. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation Maiden when citing a botanical name.Joseph Maiden was born in St John's Wood, London...
, Australian botanist, wrote "It is well worth extensive cultivation, for the nuts are always eagerly bought."
1910
- Hawaiian Agricultural Experiment Station encourages planting of macadamia on Hawaii's Kona DistrictKona District, HawaiiKona is the name of a moku or district on the Big Island of Hawaii in the State of Hawaii. In the current system of administration of Hawaii County, the moku of Kona is divided into North Kona District and South Kona District . The term "Kona" is sometimes used to refer to its largest town,...
, as a crop to supplement coffee production in the region.
1922
- Ernst Van Tassel formed the Hawaiian Macadamia Nut Co in Hawai‘i.
1925
- Tassel leases 75 acres (303,514.5 m²) on Round Top in Honolulu (Nut Ridge) and begins a macadamia nut orchard, Hawaii's first macadamia nut farm.
1931
- Ernest Van Tassel establishes a macadamia nut processing factory on Puhukaina Street in Kakaako; nuts sold as Van's macadamia nuts.
1937
- W. W. Jones and J. H. Beaumont reports in "Science," the first successful grafting of macadamia nuts that paved the way for mass production.
1940s
- Steve Angus, Murwillumbah, Australia, forms Macadamia Nuts Pty Ltd, doing small scale nut processing.
1946
- A large plantation is planted in Hawaii.
1953
- Castle & CookeCastle & CookeCastle & Cooke, Inc. is a Los Angeles-based company that was once part of the Big Five companies in territorial Hawaii. The company at one time did most of its business in agriculture...
adds a new brand of macadamia nuts called "Royal Hawaiian," which is credited with popularizing the nuts in the U. S.
1964
- Macadamia Nuts Pty Ltd, opened Australia’s first purpose-built processing plant at Slacks Creek, near Brisbane, Queensland.
1997
- Australia surpasses the United States as the major producer of macadamia nuts.
2001
- Boo Yong Sia Estate planted 12,000 trees on 400 acres (1.6 km²) in the State of Johore, Malaysia.
2003
- Human nutrition research in Australia shows that macadamia nut lowers total and LDL cholesterol levels.