Mystique of the macadamia

Nuts are the sweetest Mother Nature provides, but toughest to crack.

Hawaii, as Michener noted, may be the planet's ultimate melting pot. As such the islands have always been good at taking advantage of the wares of others. Even the ukulele, it turns out, originated in Portugal.

Nowhere is this proclivity for exploitation more evident, as culinary historians Waverly Root and Richard de Rochemont point out, than when it comes to food. (This shouldn't be surprising. After all, as the "Oxford Companion to Food" observes, before the arrival of the first humans, Hawaii had been so isolated that the land contained essentially nothing edible.)

Pineapples, for instance, the so-called fruit of Hawaiian kings and the top agricultural commodity of the islands, did not originate there but are native to South America. Sugar, another product typical of the islands, and despite recent declines still significant (the H in C&H, after all, stands for Hawaii), is native to Asia. And the macadamia nut, virtually synonymous with the islands in the minds of many, actually originated in Australia.

Macadamia nuts, sometimes called the king of nuts because they are the sweetest Mother Nature can provide, are the only major commercial food crop native to Australia. They were growing on that continent for 50 million years before anyone besides the native aborigines took notice. In autumn they would gather on the slopes of the Great Divide Range and eat the seeds of the "Kindal Kindal" tree, their name for the macadamia. It wasn't until 1857 that the nuts were "discovered" by the rest of the world. According to folklore, a small boy in Brisbane was the first person, other than an aborigine, to eat a macadamia nut. Almost another century passed before they were sold commercially. (Almonds, by contrast, have been a commercial crop for more than 2,000 years.)

First described by botanists Ferdinand von Muller and Walter Hill, the hitherto unknown macadamia tree was named by them for the Scottish-born scientist and philosopher Dr. John Macadam. Though he spearheaded the move towards cultivation of the tree's nuts, some question whether he ever even tasted one before he died at a relatively early age.

Ironically, though the macadamia nut is indigenous to Australia, farmers there did not fully realize its potential until Hawaii showed the way. Indeed, initially the tree was thought useful only for ornamental purposes. Legend has it that Australians couldn't figure out how to crack the iron-like shell of the macadamia nut and had to wait until Americans invented mechanical rollers for the purpose. Now used universally in commercial operations, they launched the industry. There is no question that the nuts, encased in a thick, green husk that must be split open to reach them, are hard -- the hardest of any nut. It takes 300 pounds of pressure per square inch to smash them. In the days before mechanization, people drove their cars over them to get the job done. Though others factors contribute, the fact that macadamia nuts are so troublesome to extricate from their hard covering is, in a nutshell, why they are so expensive.

Macadamias came to Hawaii in 1837 when Don Francisco de Paula Marin planted the first tree in his backyard in Honolulu. But it wasn't until 1882 when William H. Purvis introduced them to the Big Island that plantations got started. Today 10,000 acres of orchards on the slopes of the Mauna Loa volcano there supply nuts to the largest processor and marketer of macadamia products in the world, the Mauna Loa Corp. Nearly all of the state's production is now centered on the Big Island, though one grower remains on the north shore of Oahu, the charmingly rustic Tropical Farms, which I visited recently.

Though nowadays Australia's macadamia production rivals that of Hawaii, gourmets everywhere should be glad that the islands previously purloined the nut because it was word of mouth advertising fueled by Hawaii tourism that brought it to the attention of the culinary world.

How deprived that world would be without this luxurious nut which has been likened to caviar in its effect in a recipe. Moreover, because it's so versatile, it can add mystique to almost any dish. Macadamia nuts not only add class to a batch of cookies or brownies, or a cake or a pie, or a stack of pancakes, but they can also star as a coating for fish, lamb, or pork, punch up a pesto sauce, or impart opulence to a salad or side dish.

Furthermore, they are surprisingly healthy. Though, granted, they are high in fat, it's the good kind. In fact, macadamia nut oil has more beneficial omega-3 fatty acid than olive oil. A daily dose of macadamia nuts can actually reduce cholesterol. They're also high in antioxidants, vitamin E, fiber, and calcium.

Truly, macadamia nuts are paradise in a shell.

Macadamia Tart with Chocolate Crust

After tirelessly sampling as many macadamia nut pies as I could find during a recent visit to the Big Island of Hawaii where nearly 90 percent of the state's macadamia nuts are grown, I've concluded that this version is still the best I've ever tasted, and why shouldn't it be? It's the one they serve at Spago, Wolfgang Puck's award-winning restaurant. The recipe is adapted from the Spago dessert cookbook by Mary Bergin and Judy Gethers.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa

1 cup sugar

15 tablespoons chilled butter, divided

5 egg yolks, divided

2 tablespoons cream

1 pound macadamia nuts

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/3 cups light corn syrup

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 tablespoon Frangelico

Directions:

Place flour, cocoa, and sugar in food processor and pulse to combine. Add 12 tablespoons butter cut into pieces and process just until combined. Whisk together 2 of the egg yolks and the cream and with the processor running pour through the feed tube. Process until dough begins to come together, about 1 minute. Flatten dough into a round, wrap, and refrigerate 2-3 hours. Lightly grease a 9-inch tart pan. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to an 11-inch circle and press into pan and trim edges. Refrigerate 30 minutes. Toast nuts at 375 degrees, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Melt remaining 3 tablespoons butter over medium heat and cook until it turns golden brown. Remove from heat, add vanilla, corn syrup, brown sugar, egg, remaining 3 yolks, and Frangelico and whisk until well combined. Fill tart shell with nuts, then ladle filling over. Bake at 375 degrees until golden brown and firm to the touch, 40-45 minutes. Cool 20 minutes and remove sides of pan. Cool tart completely before serving. Serve with caramel sauce and whipped cream if desired.

Listen to A Harte Appetite at Fridays at 8:49 a.m. Fridays and at 11:59 a.m. on Saturdays on KRCU, 90.9 FM. Write A Harte Appetite, c/o the Southeast Missourian, P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63702-0699 or e-mail to tharte@semissourian.com.