I was just wondering, do macadamia nuts need to be cooked before you eat
them? I was going to make macadamia shortbread, but I could only find raw
ones, or salted cooked ones in our local shops. What's the difference? any
ideas?

Jen

"Jen" > wrote in
:

> I was just wondering, do macadamia nuts need to be cooked before you
> eat them? I was going to make macadamia shortbread, but I could only
> find raw ones, or salted cooked ones in our local shops. What's the
> difference? any ideas?

They don't need to be cooked, and taste fine raw. For shortbread or other
biscuits, though, I've always roasted them first (I've rarely been able to
find them roasted but unsalted). Easy enough to do. Just throw them on a
baking tray, and pop in the oven at around 120C. Keep an eye on them,
though. They don't take very long at all (10 or so minutes), and you don't
want them to burn.

You could make the shortbread with raw, but I think the roasted would taste
better.
--
Rhonda Anderson
Cranebrook, NSW, Australia

"Rhonda Anderson" > wrote in message
.5...
> You could make the shortbread with raw, but I think the roasted would
> taste
> better.


Thanks heaps

Jen

In article >,
says...
> I was just wondering, do macadamia nuts need to be cooked before you eat
> them? I was going to make macadamia shortbread, but I could only find raw
> ones, or salted cooked ones in our local shops. What's the difference? any
> ideas?
>
> Jen
>

I find if I eat too many raw ones I get that 'ball of lead in the gut' feeling.
But that's my ageing digestive tract, more likely than not.

They taste better roasted in any event. You have to be very careful and gentle
roasting them, they burn awfully easily. Roasting them in the shell is very
much like playing lotto: gotta be extremely lucky to get it just right.

-P.

--
=========================================
firstname dot lastname at gmail fullstop com

Jen wrote:

> I was just wondering, do macadamia nuts need to be cooked before you eat
> them? I was going to make macadamia shortbread, but I could only find raw
> ones, or salted cooked ones in our local shops. What's the difference? any
> ideas?

Many years ago some friends had been in Hawaii and brought me back of Macadamia
nuts in the shell. I never did discover the secret of cracking those things
open. Nutcrackers didn't work on it. A hammer smashed them into little pieces.

On Sun, 29 Jan 2006 12:35:27 -0500, Dave Smith
> wrote:

>Jen wrote:
>
>> I was just wondering, do macadamia nuts need to be cooked before
you eat
>> them? I was going to make macadamia shortbread, but I could only
find raw
>> ones, or salted cooked ones in our local shops. What's the
difference? any
>> ideas?
>
>Many years ago some friends had been in Hawaii and brought me back of
Macadamia
>nuts in the shell. I never did discover the secret of cracking those
things
>open. Nutcrackers didn't work on it. A hammer smashed them into
little pieces.
>

We grow macadamias. According to the literature, a macadamia nut
shell is the hardest nut to crack, but wild pigs can do it! We have
trouble with growing them as the herd of wild pigs who live just above
us in the rain forest, come down nightly and crunch those nuts. The
*crack* is so loud like a concussion, it wakes me up. The pigs are
also ruining our farm by snuffling the ground up every where so we are
giving up most of our macadamias in the hopes those nasty pigs will go
elsewhere. Luckily my brother in law can grow them, on another part of
the island, with out too much trouble.

BTW there are Macadamia nut crackers sold locally that open those nuts
up quickly, but you'd have to come to Kona to get one.

aloha,
Thunder
smithfarms.com
Farmers of 100% Kona Coffee
& other Great Stuff

On Sun, 29 Jan 2006 19:03:32 GMT, smithfarms pure kona wrote:

> On Sun, 29 Jan 2006 12:35:27 -0500, Dave Smith
> > wrote:
>
> >Many years ago some friends had been in Hawaii and brought me back of
> Macadamia
> >nuts in the shell. I never did discover the secret of cracking those
> things
> >open. Nutcrackers didn't work on it. A hammer smashed them into
> little pieces.
> >
>
> We grow macadamias. According to the literature, a macadamia nut
> shell is the hardest nut to crack, but wild pigs can do it! We have
> trouble with growing them as the herd of wild pigs who live just above
> us in the rain forest, come down nightly and crunch those nuts. The
> *crack* is so loud like a concussion, it wakes me up. The pigs are
> also ruining our farm by snuffling the ground up every where so we are
> giving up most of our macadamias in the hopes those nasty pigs will go
> elsewhere. Luckily my brother in law can grow them, on another part of
> the island, with out too much trouble.
>
Sorry to hear your woes about the wild pigs... they can be a big
problem everywhere.

> BTW there are Macadamia nut crackers sold locally that open those nuts
> up quickly, but you'd have to come to Kona to get one.
>
You're good for the tourist industry, but the OP can order one by mail
http://www.macnuts.org/Catpage.htm
http://www.ochef.com/177.htm
http://www.kitchenfantasy.com/macadamia_nut_cracker.htm


--

Practice safe eating. Always use condiments.

smithfarms pure kona > wrote in
:


> BTW there are Macadamia nut crackers sold locally that open those nuts
> up quickly, but you'd have to come to Kona to get one.
>

Or Australia <g>

--
Rhonda Anderson
Cranebrook, NSW, Australia

On Sun, 29 Jan 2006 13:24:45 -0800, sf >
wrote:

>On Sun, 29 Jan 2006 19:03:32 GMT, smithfarms pure kona wrote:
>
>> On Sun, 29 Jan 2006 12:35:27 -0500, Dave Smith
>> > wrote:
>>
>> >Many years ago some friends had been in Hawaii and brought me
back of
>> Macadamia
>> >nuts in the shell. I never did discover the secret of cracking
those
>> things
>> >open. Nutcrackers didn't work on it. A hammer smashed them into
>> little pieces.
>> >
>>
>> We grow macadamias. According to the literature, a macadamia nut
>> shell is the hardest nut to crack, but wild pigs can do it! We
have
>> trouble with growing them as the herd of wild pigs who live just
above
>> us in the rain forest, come down nightly and crunch those nuts.
The
>> *crack* is so loud like a concussion, it wakes me up. The pigs
are
>> also ruining our farm by snuffling the ground up every where so we
are
>> giving up most of our macadamias in the hopes those nasty pigs
will go
>> elsewhere. Luckily my brother in law can grow them, on another
part of
>> the island, with out too much trouble.
>>
>Sorry to hear your woes about the wild pigs... they can be a big
>problem everywhere.
>
>> BTW there are Macadamia nut crackers sold locally that open those
nuts
>> up quickly, but you'd have to come to Kona to get one.
>>
>You're good for the tourist industry, but the OP can order one by
mail
>http://www.macnuts.org/Catpage.htm
>http://www.ochef.com/177.htm
>http://www.kitchenfantasy.com/macadamia_nut_cracker.htm
>
>

the Ultimate cracker is what we have. Sorry you don't have to come
here.

aloha,
Thunder
smithfarms.com
Farmers of 100% Kona Coffee
& other Great Stuff

In article >,
says...
>
> We grow macadamias. According to the literature, a macadamia nut
> shell is the hardest nut to crack, but wild pigs can do it!
>

I have a small orchard as well (just over 300 trees). While the wild pigs don't
get to them, my border collie has developed a liking and he will crack the nuts
between his teeth. :-)

For ourselves we either get them commercially cracked, or we use the stoneage
method: fist sized flat stone on a flat hard surface (concrete stairs). Faster
than anything hammer or vice or chisel based - once you learn the exact weight
of the blow required ...

-P.

--
=========================================
firstname dot lastname at gmail fullstop com

"Dave Smith" > wrote in message
...
> Jen wrote:
>
>> I was just wondering, do macadamia nuts need to be cooked before you eat
>> them? I was going to make macadamia shortbread, but I could only find
>> raw
>> ones, or salted cooked ones in our local shops. What's the difference?
>> any
>> ideas?
>
> Many years ago some friends had been in Hawaii and brought me back of
> Macadamia
> nuts in the shell. I never did discover the secret of cracking those
> things
> open. Nutcrackers didn't work on it. A hammer smashed them into little
> pieces.
>
>

I don't have the problem with cracking them. I can buy them shelled. I
don't think I've ever seen them with the shells actually.

Jen

On Mon, 30 Jan 2006 11:44:10 +1300, Peter Huebner
> wrote:

>In article >,

>says...
>>
>> We grow macadamias. According to the literature, a macadamia nut
>> shell is the hardest nut to crack, but wild pigs can do it!
>>
>
>I have a small orchard as well (just over 300 trees). While the wild
pigs don't
>get to them, my border collie has developed a liking and he will
crack the nuts
>between his teeth. :-)
snipped.....
Hahaha, our Border Collie also likes to get macadamias and crack them.
I did have another dog several years ago, who got a Macadamia lodged
in his intestine and it was about $300 to have it operated on and
removed. So when I see Mollie with a macadamia which she loves!, I
try to get it and distract her with something else. We wish she was
brave enough to go and chase the pigs. Our vet said he knows of one
Border Collie that does but these are mean pigs. One gored a
neighbor's dog, so maybe Mollie knows more. Our 8 year old totally
deaf Brittany is the only one who barks at the pigs.

aloha
Thunder
smithfarms.com
Farmers of 100% Kona Coffee
& other Great Stuff

In article >,
smithfarms pure kona > wrote:
(snippage)
>
> BTW there are Macadamia nut crackers sold locally that open those nuts
> up quickly, but you'd have to come to Kona to get one.
>
> aloha,
> Thunder

Are you sure, Thunder? :-)
http://www.macnuts.org/
http://tinyurl.com/9z46m
http://tinyurl.com/dsc7v
--
http://www.jamlady.eboard.com, updated 1-27-2006, The Best Dead Spread Yet

In article >,
says...
> Our vet said he knows of one
> Border Collie that does but these are mean pigs. One gored a
> neighbor's dog, so maybe Mollie knows more. Our 8 year old totally
> deaf Brittany is the only one who barks at the pigs.
>
> aloha
> Thunder
> smithfarms.com
> Farmers of 100% Kona Coffee
> & other Great Stuff

Well, once your Brittany barks at them, you shouldn't have much trouble getting
the artillery out and feasting on wild pig ?!? Wild boar in a sauce made with
cranberries and slivered roasted macadamia nuts ...

The sire of my macadamia cracking collie was dynamite on wild pigs. He's still
with us but 14y.o. now, getting slow and his sight is fading.

-P.

--
=========================================
firstname dot lastname at gmail fullstop com

"Jen" > wrote in
:

>
> "Dave Smith" > wrote in message
> ...

>> Many years ago some friends had been in Hawaii and brought me back of
>> Macadamia
>> nuts in the shell. I never did discover the secret of cracking those
>> things
>> open. Nutcrackers didn't work on it. A hammer smashed them into
>> little pieces.
>>
>>
>
> I don't have the problem with cracking them. I can buy them shelled.
> I don't think I've ever seen them with the shells actually.

I've mainly seen them in the shell at Christmas time - in those bags of
mixed nuts in the shell that always appear in the shops at that time.We
have a macadamia cracker - it's like a little press - you put the
macadamia in and screw down the top till the shell cracks. It's not a
quick process, but you don't have shells flying everywhere.

--
Rhonda Anderson
Cranebrook, NSW, Australia

"Rhonda Anderson" > wrote

> I've mainly seen them in the shell at Christmas time - in those bags of
> mixed nuts in the shell that always appear in the shops at that time.We
> have a macadamia cracker - it's like a little press - you put the
> macadamia in and screw down the top till the shell cracks. It's not a
> quick process, but you don't have shells flying everywhere.

As serious as I will go in the nut cracking activity is brazil nuts.
I love them but man, what an undertaking. Macadamias? No
way.

nancy

On Sun, 29 Jan 2006 19:26:29 -0600, Melba's Jammin'
> wrote:

>In article >,
> smithfarms pure kona > wrote:
>(snippage)
>>
>> BTW there are Macadamia nut crackers sold locally that open those
nuts
>> up quickly, but you'd have to come to Kona to get one.
>>
>> aloha,
>> Thunder
>
>Are you sure, Thunder? :-)
>http://www.macnuts.org/
>http://tinyurl.com/9z46m
>http://tinyurl.com/dsc7v

I actually never knew California grew Macadamias. Thanks Barb.
aloha,
Thunder
smithfarms.com
Farmers of 100% Kona Coffee
& other Great Stuff

"Nancy Young" > wrote in
:

>
> "Rhonda Anderson" > wrote
>
>> I've mainly seen them in the shell at Christmas time - in those bags
>> of mixed nuts in the shell that always appear in the shops at that
>> time.We have a macadamia cracker - it's like a little press - you put
>> the macadamia in and screw down the top till the shell cracks. It's
>> not a quick process, but you don't have shells flying everywhere.
>
> As serious as I will go in the nut cracking activity is brazil nuts.
> I love them but man, what an undertaking. Macadamias? No
> way.

I figure it's my patriotic duty to do it every so often :-), macadamias
being one of the few indigenous foodstuffs you find commercially
available. Don't think there are many other native nuts (the edible
sort, that is - there are plenty of the two legged ones!).

Honestly, I wouldn't go out and buy a bag of macadamias in the shell,
but if I have them, then I'll crack them and eat them. Not letting them
go to waste.

--
Rhonda Anderson
Cranebrook, NSW, Australia

"Rhonda Anderson" > wrote

> "Nancy Young" > wrote

>> As serious as I will go in the nut cracking activity is brazil nuts.
>> I love them but man, what an undertaking. Macadamias? No
>> way.
>
> I figure it's my patriotic duty to do it every so often :-), macadamias
> being one of the few indigenous foodstuffs you find commercially
> available. Don't think there are many other native nuts (the edible
> sort, that is - there are plenty of the two legged ones!).
>
> Honestly, I wouldn't go out and buy a bag of macadamias in the shell,
> but if I have them, then I'll crack them and eat them. Not letting them
> go to waste.

Heh, and it's occurred to me I wouldn't know a macadamia nut in
the shell if you cracked it upside my head. I'll have to look that
up.

nancy

"Nancy Young" > wrote in news:drnp2o$pea$1
@news.monmouth.com:

> "Rhonda Anderson" > wrote

>> Honestly, I wouldn't go out and buy a bag of macadamias in the shell,
>> but if I have them, then I'll crack them and eat them. Not letting them
>> go to waste.
>
> Heh, and it's occurred to me I wouldn't know a macadamia nut in
> the shell if you cracked it upside my head. I'll have to look that
> up.

Ouch. That would be painful! They're round,shiny and very, very hard

http://images.google.com.au/images?q...=Search+Images


--
Rhonda Anderson
Cranebrook, NSW, Australia

In article >,
"Jen" > wrote:

> I was just wondering, do macadamia nuts need to be cooked before you eat
> them? I was going to make macadamia shortbread, but I could only find raw
> ones, or salted cooked ones in our local shops. What's the difference? any
> ideas?

Use raw, they're fine.

Miche

--
WWMVD?

In article >,
Dave Smith > wrote:

> Jen wrote:
>
> > I was just wondering, do macadamia nuts need to be cooked before you eat
> > them? I was going to make macadamia shortbread, but I could only find raw
> > ones, or salted cooked ones in our local shops. What's the difference? any
> > ideas?
>
> Many years ago some friends had been in Hawaii and brought me back of
> Macadamia
> nuts in the shell. I never did discover the secret of cracking those things
> open. Nutcrackers didn't work on it. A hammer smashed them into little
> pieces.

Ideally you should get them when they're less than 24 hours off the
tree, before the shells harden completely.

Slowly squeeze them in a woodwork/metalwork vice -- that cracks the
shells but leaves the nuts intact.

Miche

--
WWMVD?

In article >,
Rhonda Anderson > wrote:

> "Jen" > wrote in
> :

> > I don't have the problem with cracking them. I can buy them shelled.
> > I don't think I've ever seen them with the shells actually.
>
> I've mainly seen them in the shell at Christmas time - in those bags of
> mixed nuts in the shell that always appear in the shops at that time.We
> have a macadamia cracker - it's like a little press - you put the
> macadamia in and screw down the top till the shell cracks. It's not a
> quick process, but you don't have shells flying everywhere.

Yes, we have one of those nutcrackers too. Wonderful things.

Miche

--
WWMVD?