Monday, 16 April 2012

Going Nutty!


We've been harvesting the macadamia nuts from our tree, as we noticed we had robbers  coming at night and eating the nuts. These robbers are four legged, very quiet and creepy little creatures… Rats…
They climb the tree and get to the biggest ones at the top. I don't know how they can go through the nut shell (which is extremely hard) and  clean the entire kernel inside.  I've been told they love it as it helps keep their sharp teeth short ...

Nuts opened by rats

No wonder we only had a few baskets of nuts last year. But this year we've beat them to it .This little sucker had his last feed of macadamia (he died happy, as the bait was a fresh juicy nut...)

Ratatouille no more... RIP

This year we've harvested 22 kgs… and approximately 1500 nuts,  with some amazing unusual large ones…

Our largest nuts (won't fit in the machine!)

 We've also had 3 sets of twins, huge… fitting snugly in the husks. We won't eat these. They will be our lucky nuts!...

Our lucky nuts!

 However, it was a full day job to dehusk all these nuts. At first we tried to open them with a knife, which was a long and tedious process.

4 more baskets to dehusk

  But Svenne suddenly had a very clever "chippy" idea. Give them a couple of whacks with a hammer and the husk splits open. We just had to peel it off then, which was much easier and quicker.
I'm now left with 2 huge rubbish bags of husks, which I will use as mulch later on.

Ready to be cracked open

 Thanks to Steve and Colin for their Christmas gift  which has already come very handy… much easier than using a vice! Such a clever little machine.

Best device to have if you've got a macadamia nut tree

 I've toasted and salted a batch over Easter and it didn't take long for them to disappear. And my persimmon and macadamia nuts slice was also a success.

Persimmon and macadamia nut slice
 More experiences coming soon: sweet nuts, chocolate  coated nuts, savoury nuts, chilli nuts….

Stages to go before you can taste them 
And to sum it up!




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