The story of ‘Ailani Orchard’s Macadamia Nuts

On our small family orchard, we harvest our 280 macadamia nut trees by hand and craft our products the old-fashioned way— from our trees to your home.

The Beginning

The story of our macadamia nuts is rooted in the volcanic soils of the Kaʻū region on the Big Island of Hawai’i. Macadamias love deep, well-aerated, nutrient-rich soils, and you would be hard-pressed to find any that meet these conditions better than the volcanic ash and cinder soils abundant throughout Kaʻū. The tree itself is beautiful, tall, and green, and it produces long, white, bottle brush-like flowers. The bees work hard to pollinate every flower, which turn into glorious clusters of green balls—these are the young macadamia nuts. When the nuts are mature, they fall from the tree and we race to beat all the other creatures who want to eat this delicious and nutrient-rich food (who can blame them!).

Dehydrating vs. Roasting

Many people are surprised to learn that roasting can actually take away much of what makes macadamias so good for you. The roasting methods that commercial producers typically use expose nuts to high heat (up to 300º F) for a short period of time. This process destroys many of the heat-sensitive healthy fats, proteins, and vitamins that make macadamias one of the healthiest nuts you can eat. In other words, their most valuable nutrients do not survive the process used to produce most of the macadamia nuts you see on the shelf in the grocery store. To make matters worse, the process of roasting causes an increase in carcinogenic acrylamides, which are known to be harmful to human health.

Our “low and slow” method is the best way to remove the moisture from the macadamia nuts while preserving the nutrients that make macadamias a superfood. Macadamias contain a very unique balance of omega-3, 6, 7, and 9 fatty acids, and the process of dehydration allows these healthy fats to remain intact, unlike commercial roasting. Because of this, dehydrated macadamia nuts are still considered raw, so they have nearly all of the health benefits of nuts fresh off the tree while being much more shelf-stable and having a satisfying, crunchy texture.

 A labor of love

When we harvest 500 pounds of macadamia nuts, about 250 pounds remain after husking. Once cracked, they give a final yield of about 60 pounds of finished product in one week of processing time. We love our nuts and, when produced in this manner, they love us back by adding yummy, healthy nutrients to our bodies. Not to mention the fact that they taste even more delicious and buttery than roasted nuts!

So, if nutrition is your goal, dehydrating wins over roasting hands down. If good flavor is your goal, dehydrating wins again!

Macadamia recipes

The sky is the limit when it comes to the ways you can use macadamias to enhance any meal. Take a look at our Recipes page to see a catalog of some of our favorites!