Hawaii’s Backyard: Molokai tour spotlights the amazing macadamia

When Harry “Tuddie” Purdy acquired his neighbor’s Hawaiian Home Lands property in 1980, he couldn’t walk through the macadamia orchard on it without a machete; it was totally overgrown. It took him and his parents a year to clear that acre in Hoolehua, Molokai, which the former occupants had planted with 50 macadamia trees as ornamentals in the 1920s.

Over the years, Purdy gradually expanded the orchard; Purdy’s Natural Macadamia Nut Farm now encompasses 300 trees on 6 acres. “That’s plenty for me and one worker to handle,” he said. “The commercial macadamia nut industry is based on Hawaii island, and I’m not competing with them. I have a small farm on a small island, and my primary goal is education.”

In 1982, Purdy launched tours to provide an activity for Molokai visitors and to enlighten them about the nut they love to eat and take home as gifts. “Most of them don’t know anything about macadamias,” he said. “They’ve never seen the tree or the nut in the shell. We don’t use pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers; we are completely natural. That’s why we’re able to give visitors access to our farm.”

Although Purdy’s tour isn’t long — about 30 minutes — it’s chock-full of information. You’ll find out how and when macadamia trees came to Hawaii (they’re native to Australia). You’ll get up-close looks at trees and nuts in various stages of development. You’ll learn macadamias fall when they’re ripe and are picked from the ground.

Purdy harvests year-round, but his peak season is November through January. From flowering to maturity, macadamias develop in five to six months, and preparing them for consumption is a multistep process. First, Purdy uses a machine to remove the husks, revealing smooth, hard, round, brown shells. He dries them in open bins in the sun for a week to loosen the nuts inside.

He uses another machine to crack the shells and free the cream-colored nuts, which he roasts in small batches (usually no more than 20 pounds at a time) to ensure optimum freshness.

Visitors can try cracking macadamias manually with a hammer and a holder that Purdy fashioned with rubber slippers and duct tape. They can sample raw nuts, Purdy’s roasted nuts and macadamia honey and macadamia honey mustard made by other companies.

Stores statewide sell an array of other macadamia products under different brands, including nuts covered in milk or dark chocolate, glazed with candy or Kona coffee and sprinkled with mango chipotle, honey sriracha or garlic and onion. You can even buy Spam-flavored macadamias.

But, in Purdy’s opinion, nothing can beat the macadamias visitors munch at his farm. “They’re roasted with Hawaiian salt — that’s it,” he said. “Simple is the best.”

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HISTORY OF A NUT

The macadamia tree is indigenous to eastern Australia. Botanist Ferdinand von Mueller, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne, gave the tree its common name in 1857 to honor his good friend, John Macadam, a chemist, politician and medical teacher.

In 1881, entrepreneur William Herbert Purvis, an avid plant collector, brought macadamia seeds to Hawaii island after a visit to Australia. At the time, he and his cousin, Theodore, were managing the Pacific Sugar Mill in Kukuihaele.

Purvis thought macadamia trees, which can grow up to 40 feet tall, would be an attractive ornamental. He planted his seeds in Kapulena, near Kukuihaele; well over a century later, some of those trees are still standing.

Over the next 60 years, other businessmen and horticulturists also started experimental orchards on Hawaii island and Oahu, but the first major attempt at commercial production didn’t occur until 1948. That was when Castle & Cooke, one of Hawaii’s “Big Five” companies, purchased 1,000 acres of land in Keaau on Hawaii island for a macadamia plantation.

Now under different ownership, that plantation was the predecessor of Mauna Loa, one of Hawaii’s largest macadamia companies. Local farms, primarily on Hawaii island, harvest 49 million pounds of in-shell, pre-dried macadamias annually, making Hawaii the largest producer of macadamias in the United States and one of the largest producers in the world.

ALL ABOUT THE MACADAMIA

>> Technically, macadamias are seeds, not nuts.

>> There are seven species of macadamia trees; only two produce edible nuts.

>> After planting, it takes trees 5 to 8 years to produce nuts, and they can produce for 40 years.

>> Macadamia shells are the hardest of all nut shells. It takes 300 pounds of pressure per square inch to crack one. The hyacinth macaw can crack the shells with its large beak.

>> Studies tout the macadamia’s health benefits: It has no cholesterol; is low in sodium; is a rich source of fiber, potassium, magnesium, iron and vitamin B-6; and is full of antioxidants.

>> The nut is high in fat, but 72 to 75 percent of that fat is monounsaturated, which boosts good HDL cholesterol and lowers bad LDL cholesterol, thus decreasing the risk of stroke and heart disease.

>> The palmitoleic fatty acid in macadamias has been shown to alleviate inflammation; regulate blood sugar levels; speed up the metabolism of fat; and promote brain health and skin and hair rejuvenation. In addition to cooking, macadamia oil can be used to reduce wrinkles and age spots, stimulate hair growth and make hair shine.

>> Macadamias are harmful to dogs, causing weakness, vomiting, fever, lethargy, tremors and abdominal pain. If properly treated, they can fully recover in several days.

Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based freelance writer whose travel features for the Star-Advertiser have won several Society of American Travel Writers awards.