Macadamia is a species of tree indigenous to Australia. Macadamias are evergreens and can grow up to twelve metres tall. The macadamia is known for its seed, the macadamia nut. It takes up to ten years for a macadamia to start producing nuts in commercial quantities, but once established, it may keep doing so for over a hundred years. Macadamia nuts are known to have the toughest shell of all nuts, which require a lot of force to crack. This explains why the nuts are expensive compared to other nuts.

After Macadamia seeds were exported to Hawaii as early as 1882, the island became a renowned producer of macadamia nuts. Historically, Australia and Hawaii have been the major exporting countries of these rather fatty nuts. Come the new millennium, Hawaii started slacking behind and South Africa dethroned Australia as the world’s largest producer of commercial macadamias nuts.

Macadamias are widely used in confectionary, in biscuits and cakes. Apart from that, they are usually consumed separately, but are also popularly sprinkled over salads, deserts or sundaes.

Macadamia nuts consist of up to 80 per cent oil and contain a higher percentage of unsaturated fat than any other nut of seed. Apart from being a delicious snack, macadamia nuts are also a wanted ingredient for cosmetics. Containing omega-7 palmitoleic acid, they are processed into skincare products. Both by eating and by applying to one’s skin, macadamias might cause allergic reactions. Macadamias are gluten free.