Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
Speaker 1: rain Stuff, Lauren bog Obam. Here. First things first, macadamia
Speaker 1: nuts are not actually nuts. Yes, I know, it's ridiculous.
Speaker 1: It's right there in the name for goodness sake, but
Speaker 1: much like brazil nuts. Again, what is it with these
Speaker 1: misleading names. The macadamia is in fact a seed, and
Speaker 1: although they've become a signature staple of Hawaiian agriculture, macadamias
Speaker 1: are actually native to Australia. We spoke with Glenn Sacco,
Speaker 1: and economic development specialist with the Hawaii County Department of
Speaker 1: Research and Development. He explained macadamia nuts are originally from Australia,
Speaker 1: but much of the early research, breeding work, and quality
Speaker 1: development were done by the University of Hawaii on the
Speaker 1: island of Hawaii. These cultivars are suited for the Hawaii
Speaker 1: climate and do not produce the same high quality nut
Speaker 1: when grown in foreign conditions. Cultivars is short for cultivated varieties,
Speaker 1: and these are specific types of plays selected and cultivated
Speaker 1: by humans. In this case, the plant is a large
Speaker 1: bushy tree that starts producing macademia nuts by the time
Speaker 1: it's about four or five years old, so how exactly
Speaker 1: did these Australian cultivars end up in Hawaii. For that,
Speaker 1: you can thank one William Purvis, who planted the first
Speaker 1: macademia tree on the Big Island in one Purvis didn't
Speaker 1: initially intend for the tree seeds to be a hit.
Speaker 1: He planted the trees as wind breaks for the sugarcane fields.
Speaker 1: The plants were functional and also happened to be quite pretty,
Speaker 1: but he didn't suspect they could bear such delectable and
Speaker 1: profitable seeds. About a decade later, one R. A. Jordan
Speaker 1: planted some macademia trees on Oahu, the trees that researchers
Speaker 1: think is the ancestor of most of Hawaii's trees, and
Speaker 1: the nut quickly became a popular snack among businessmen who
Speaker 1: came to Hawaii to profit off of sugar plantations. In
Speaker 1: the early nineteen hundreds, the Hawaiian Agricultural Experiment Station was
Speaker 1: established to get new crops growing on the island. Since
Speaker 1: this newly established United States territory was relying almost exclusively
Speaker 1: on sugar following the collapse of the coffee market in
Speaker 1: the nineteen twenties, the government offered a five year tax
Speaker 1: exemption on land that was used solely for macademia production,
Speaker 1: but most farmers weren't interested. That is, until roasted macadamia
Speaker 1: nuts started popping up in stores and consumers went wild.
Speaker 1: Demand for the nuts went up, and the number of
Speaker 1: trees planted for nut production more than doubled from nineteen
Speaker 1: thirty two to nineteen thirty eight. Sales slumped a bit
Speaker 1: after that, but by the nineteen fifties, Hawaii was churning
Speaker 1: out macadaemia goodies to stack fans throughout the world, and
Speaker 1: major companies were making a pretty penny off of them.
Speaker 1: Speaking of why are macadamia is so expensive? While macadamia's
Speaker 1: clearly have an interesting past and they taste heavenly coated
Speaker 1: in thick layers of chocolate, do they really merit their
Speaker 1: often exorbitant price tag. After all, At around twenty five
Speaker 1: dollars a pound, they're considered the most expensive nuts in
Speaker 1: the world, So what's the deal? A bunch of factors
Speaker 1: go into the price, but a lot of them come
Speaker 1: down to the fact that macadamias can't be grown effectively
Speaker 1: on the continental United States, and shipping them in from
Speaker 1: Hawaii is costly, and growing things in Hawaii is costly
Speaker 1: to begin with, because it's a small archipelago that some
Speaker 1: three thousand miles that's nearly five thousand kilometers away from
Speaker 1: anything in Macadamius made the news for a seventeen percent
Speaker 1: price increase, which Sacho attributed to Hawaii's fixed harvest acreage
Speaker 1: and a higher global demand. Furthermore, a Sacho said, it
Speaker 1: takes seven years for a macadamia nut tree to produce
Speaker 1: a crop. Demand remains high and prices are up to
Speaker 1: a dollar twenty per pound. Despite this, there's tremendous pressure
Speaker 1: on the industry. The agricultural labor shortage continues and that's
Speaker 1: caused wages and benefit costs to increase. Invasive pests continue
Speaker 1: to affect the orchard health and production. The Hawaii land
Speaker 1: prices are so high that orchard expansion is too costly
Speaker 1: and producers can't wait for seven years. Therefore, the production
Speaker 1: acreage remains steady despite the increased demand for the nuts. Okay,
Speaker 1: so that explains the cost, But are they actually good
Speaker 1: for you? High fat foods used to be the most
Speaker 1: demonized of all kitchen staples, basically because of a very
Speaker 1: effective and sort of insidious marketing campaign put out by
Speaker 1: the sugar industry, but thanks to current research and slightly
Speaker 1: less hysteric marketing hype, such things as nuts, oils, and
Speaker 1: seeds are getting their due as healthy options. We also
Speaker 1: spoke with registered dietitian at Danielle Burniture. She said macadamia
Speaker 1: nuts are high in mono unsaturated fats, low in net carbohydrates,
Speaker 1: and a good source of copper, manganese, and diamond. Mono
Speaker 1: Unsaturated fatty acids have been shown to lower L d
Speaker 1: L cholesterol levels the bad kind, especially when they're used
Speaker 1: in place of saturated fats and refined carbohydrates in one's diet.
Speaker 1: Net carbs are important to consider because it clues you
Speaker 1: in on how much fiber something contains in relation to
Speaker 1: the amount of total carbohydrates present. Having more fiber is
Speaker 1: crucial to gut health. Copper assists with iron absorption and
Speaker 1: transport in the body, while manganese and diamon are essential
Speaker 1: for carbohydrate metabolism. And while all of that sounds great,
Speaker 1: we still live in a society that tends to obsess
Speaker 1: over numbers. So at two hundred and three calories and
Speaker 1: twenty one grams of fat per serving, a single serving
Speaker 1: being just ten to twelve nut kernels, and that's just nuts,
Speaker 1: not nuts, dust and chocolate are macadamia is really a
Speaker 1: wholesome snack. Burniture said. Although nuts are hiring calories, they're
Speaker 1: also packed with fiber, heart healthy fats, protein, vitamins, and
Speaker 1: minerals essential to our diets. Having a small handful is
Speaker 1: a filling and nutritious snack to tied you over between meals,
Speaker 1: or it can be used as a way to round
Speaker 1: out a meal on top of a salad or yogurt bowl.
Speaker 1: They are a particularly good substitute for packaged ultra processed
Speaker 1: snacks like potato chips. Calorie for calorie, an ounce of
Speaker 1: chips and ounce of nuts are equivalent, but the protein
Speaker 1: and fiber in the nuts will keep you energized, full
Speaker 1: and focused. She said. Don't fear fats. They're essential for
Speaker 1: hormone health, optimal brain function, and absorption of many nutrients.
Speaker 1: And according to Sacho, macadamia's aren't just a delicious treat
Speaker 1: for humans, they can be healthy snacks for rodents too.
Speaker 1: He said. Some pet rat owners buy the nuts in
Speaker 1: the shell to give to the rats to gnaw on.
Speaker 1: This helps wear down the rats teeth Today's episode was
Speaker 1: written by Michelle Konstantinovski and produced by Tyler Clay. Brain
Speaker 1: Stuff is a production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works.
Speaker 1: For more and this months of other nutritious topics, visit
Speaker 1: our home planet, how stuff Works dot com. And for
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