Macadamia nuts…

I was a young child when I had my first macadamia nut,  from a jar my father had brought back from Hawaii.   I thought it tasted like a crunchy little bite of heaven.   All these decades later,  my opinion remains confirmed.   I am surprised to learn that the vast majority of the world’s commercial macadamia crops originated from  a single  19th-century tree in the tiny town of Gympie in Queensland, Australia.   Hawaii remains a huge commercial producer of the nuts,  which are technically seeds.  They are generally the most expensive nut per pound,  which is why you generally see them as part of some delicious confection.  The price is unlikely to decline much,  as a tree takes  seven to  ten years to mature sufficiently to produce the seeds.  Land in Hawaii is extremely expensive,  so few people can afford to wait that long for the land to produce.    There are a few other places with suitable tropical climates, such as Southern California,  Florida,  Costa Rica,  and some South African,  South and Central American locations.