Date: Thu, 18 Dec 1997 05:52:46 GMT Server: Apache/1.2.4 Connection: close Content-Type: text/html Mauna Loa: Why Mauna Loa leads
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How Mauna Loa Macadamia Nuts
became the World's Leader

Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Corporation is the world's largest grower, processor and marketer of macadamia nut products, with 10,000 acres in orchards on the slopes of Mauna Loa volcano on the Big Island of Hawai`i and on the island of Maui. With its plantation founded in 1948, the first macadamia nut trees were planted in early 1949 near Kea`au on the Big Island of Hawai`i. In 1954, the macadamia nut trees began to bear and the first commercial crop was harvested in 1956.

Mauna Loa's venture into macadamia nut planting followed a half century of macadamia nut trees grown for home use and farmers markets in Hawai`i.

Macadamia nut trees are native to the subtropical Pacific, and the first seeds were brought to Hawai`i in the late 1800s. They were first described by Baron Ferdinand von Mueller who named them after his friend, Dr. John Macadam, who was secretary of the Philosophical Institute of Victoria, Australia. The macadamia nut tree is native to Queensland and northern New South Wales in Australia, but the soil and weather conditions for macadamia nuts in Hawai`i are nearly perfect.

Abundant rainfall averages 130 inches annually at Mauna Loa's oldest plantation on the eastern shore of the Big Island. Good drainage is supplied by porous volcanic soil and the growing season is 365 days long with temperatures varying only 15-20 degrees overnight. The strong Hawaiian sun in the semitropical climate energizes the trees for luxurious growth, up to 40 feet in height, with an abundance of dark green, holly-like leaves.

Each branch produces sprays of 300 to 600 sweet scented white blossoms. Within each spray are two to ten nutlets that develop into spherical nuts encased in green, fibrous husks and smooth, brown, very hard shells to protect the macadamia nut kernels.

The trees flower in waves over four to six months and the nuts are harvested five to six times a year. Hawai`i's harvest of macadamia nuts brings in over over 40 million pounds a year. The largest plantings are on the Big Island, followed by Maui, O`ahu and Kaua`i.

Harvesting macadamia nuts is tedious and accomplished by picking the mature fruit from the ground by hand, shaking the tree and picking by hand, and picking with a mechanical harvester. Mauna Loa provides employment for hundreds of pickers for approximately 150 days a year and for the creators of macadamia nut products the year round.

Harvested nuts are husked, dried and cured until the moisture is reduced to 1.5 percent, helping to separate the kernel from the shell, which is known to be the hardest shell to crack of any edible nut. When macadamia nuts first reached Hawai`i, breaking them was a most difficult task. With the arrival of the automobile, drivers put boards over the nuts on the ground and drove back and forth across them to crack them open. Now, the nuts are passed between counter rotating steel rollers, precisely spaced to break the shell without disturbing the macadamia nut meat. It takes 300 pounds per square inch of pressure to shatter the shell without damaging the kernel inside.

Once out of their shells, macadamia nuts are color sorted and dry- roasted to crunchy perfection. Theses fancy-grade nuts are slightly salted and packed for retail. Darker nuts of less uniform size are prepared for commercial applications.

M auna Loa's basic business is producing whole, roasted, lightly salted macadamia nuts, vacuum packed in jars, cans and foil packets. Among the many macadamia nut products are Chocolate Covered Macadamia Nuts, Macadamia Nut Brittle, White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies, and Honey Roasted Macadamia Nuts. Gift boxes include Hawaiian Treasures, macadamia nuts covered with chocolate and shaped like fish, flowers and tikis, and Exotic Fish Sampler Tin, with macadamia nuts presented in chocolate bars, biscotti and glazed nut corn clusters.

A complete selection of macadamia nut gifts, including ingredients appropriate for Mauna Loa Recipes, is available through Mauna Loa's Online Catalog and print edition catalog.


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RECIPES | NUTRITION | WRITE TO MAUNA LOA