History of Hawaii's Macadamia Nuts
Macadamia nuts are the archetypal snack of Hawaii, as easily affiliated with the state as SPAM or pineapples are. But while the buttery, delicious nuts are iconic to the island, they didn’t originate there. Australian aboriginal tribes had been enjoying the healthy and tasty nut for thousands of years before European colonists discovered the plant down under in Queensland in the mid 1800’s. It wasn’t until 1881 that macadamia nut trees were brought to Hawaii by sugar plantation investor William Purvis in an effort to protect his crops from strong winds.
Little by little, the trees with the hard-to-crack nuts started gaining a presence in Hawaii, in part due to prompting from the Hawaiian Agricultural Experiment Station, which began suggesting macadamia nuts as a supplement industry for coffee growers. In 1922, The Hawaiian Macadamia Nut Co. was established by Ernst Van Tassel, who then developed the first macadamia seed farm in 1925 in Honolulu. By 1931, Van Tassel had purchased a processing plant and started selling the tasty goodies as “Van’s Macadamia Nuts.”
America’s love affair with macadamia nuts really started taking off in the 1950s, when the “Royal Hawaiian” brand was created by Castle & Cooke, which would later become The Dole Food Company. Today, there are more than 700 macadamia nut farms and 8 processing plants in Hawaii, with the lion’s share found on the Big Island. With their noted health benefits, undeniably delicious taste, and an abundance of cookies, candies, and other treats incorporating them, macadamia nuts are loved throughout the world. The U.S. consumes more than half of the macadamia nuts produced worldwide, with Hawaii leading the way as the world’s top grower and processor.
Here’s a nutty fact to leave you with: What early Europeans called “Queensland nuts” or “bauple nuts” eventually became widely known as “macadamia nuts.” It was botanist Baron Ferdinand von Mueller who gave them their name in 1857, in honor of his friend and colleague, Scottish philosopher and doctor John MacAdam. Interestingly enough, MacAdam never tasted the nut that was given his name, since he died in an accident before he got the chance. Just goes to show, life’s too short not to gobble up as much of the good stuff as you can—and that definitely includes macadamia nuts!