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NEWS |
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Focus on … MACADAMIA NUTS
Macadamia Nuts are well known as the most elegant of nuts. Maybe it is because they are grown in Hawaii, or because they taste so good, or maybe it is because they are so expensive. Actually, macadamia nuts are native of Australia, and are now grown in many countries with tropical climates, even Southern California.
Lets look at why they are so expensive, and even more so this year. The nuts require a lot of water to grow properly, that's number one. Climatic conditions contributed to this year's comparatively short crop. Next, they have a very thick shell, which requires special equipment to crack. More expensive equipment is required to separate the shells from the nut meats. Electronic color sorters are used for this purpose.
Here in Southern California there is no commercial facility for the cracking and sorting of the local crop, so most of the nuts are sold in shell. Even for in-shell nuts there is currently a 10,000 pound backlog of orders, according to representatives of the Gold Crown Macadamia Association
On November 6th the California Macadamia Society held their annual meeting in Poway. Jim Russell is the President of the group. He reports that there are approximately 300 growers in Southern California. Most have only a few acres of trees and crack and sort their own nuts, mostly by hand. Interested folks from all over Southern California attended. Some just curious, but the majority were growers with serious problems.
Issues addressed at the meeting included the many challenges that growers face, such as rodent control, theft, to prune or not to prune, macadamia pests, fertilization and fire. The ranch where the meeting was held was devastated last year by the Cedar Fire. Fortunately, many trees have been returning to health this year. Eucalyptus trees left as tall, branch-less skeletons by the fire, now have new growth from the base to the top, a strange sight.
One grower, a widow with about 100 trees, said that she was only caring for 70 of her trees, as it is just too much work to care for all of them. She cited the recent rains as another bittersweet event. It was good for the trees, but made getting the nuts harder as they fall to the ground and get into the mud.
With all its problems, the Macadamia is still a very tasty and nutritious nut. Now it is also getting its due respect as the nut with the largest percentage of the beneficial monounsaturated fat. Kudos to all those who work so hard to make these elegant nuts available for us. Excerpt from Winter 2004 newsletter Patsy Flanigan |
