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| HISTORY OF THE MACADAMIA |
The
macadamia is the only major commercial food crop that is native to Australia.
The colonization of Australia by the British began in 1788 but it wasn't until 1875 that
the recorded history of the macadamia began. Ferdinand Von Muller, Royal Botanist at
Melbourne and Walter Hill, Director of the Botany Garden at Brisbane, were botanizing in
the forest along the Pine River in the Moreton Bay district of Queensland. They discovered
a species of tree in the family Proteaceae previously unknown to European and American
Botanists. This species did not fit into any previously established genera in that family,
so in 1858 Muller established a new genus, Macadamia, naming it in honor of John Macadam,
MD, Secretary of the Philosophical Institute of Victoria.
Of course, the British weren't the first inhabitants of Australia. At the time of their
arrival Australia was inhabited by aborigines, with a population of around 300,000. Their
food consisted mainly of fish, shellfish, turtle eggs, grubs of certain tree bark insects,
kangaroo, koala, wombat, bandicoot, other small animals and birds, plus yams, and grass
seeds. |
 Mt Warning,
New South Wales - home of the macadamia nut |
However, during the months of fall and winter (March to June), they would
come from far and near to congregate on the eastern slopes of the Great Divide Range. Here
they would feast on the seeds of two kinds of trees which were abundant in the area. One
kind of tree they called "Kindal Kindal", which we now know as the macadamia. The macadamia genus
consists of at least ten species, but only two of those produce edible nuts, the
Integrifolia and the Tetraphylla. |
| The first large planting of Macadamias occurred in 1890 on the
Frederickson Estate at Rous Mill, New South Wales. They planted around 250 trees as a
source of nuts for the family. Many of those trees still exist and are still producing a
good crop of nuts. Interestingly, the largest single planting of macadamia trees is on 3,700
acres in Komatipoort, South Africa. Additionally, macadamias are grown commercially in
Hawaii, Australia, Malawi, Kenya, South Africa, Israel, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico,
Brazil, and many other tropical and subtropical regions, including Florida.
Macadamias were
first grown in NZ through ad-hoc import from Australia.
In 1975 the
beginnings of commercial plantings occurred south of Auckland through the efforts of
Virginia Warren. This enterprise has flourished into a cottage industry with around 400
trees planted.
Planting began
at what is now MacNut Farms in 1980 under the management of Neil Whitehead, with the
orchard starting to produce commercial quantities in 1989. Neil continued as manager
until 1997, supervising the development of NZ’s largest orchard at 10,500 trees
spread over 105 acres.
MacNut Farms is
predominantly planted in a hybrid species called "Beaumont", which is known for
it’s superior tasting nut. In NZ, Beaumont’s must be handpicked, as they do not
drop their nuts. Most Australian and Hawaiian species drop their nuts, allowing for a
cheaper ground harvest. |
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Watch : Nutrition |
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