Roasted Macadamia Nuts

Toast at 350°F just until fragrant—they burn quickly due to high oil content. Season immediately after roasting while still warm. Store in airtight container; high fat content means they can go rancid. A touch of vanilla salt elevates them further.

The macadamia is the only major commercially grown nut native to Australia, and its journey from Queensland rainforest to Hawaiian hospitality icon is one of the more specific origin stories in food history. Aboriginal peoples across northeastern New South Wales and southeastern Queensland — including the Budjilla, who called the tree kindal-kindal — harvested and traded the nuts for thousands of years before European contact. The German-Australian botanist Ferdinand von Mueller gave the tree its scientific name in 1857, naming the genus Macadamia in honour of his friend Dr. John Macadam, a chemist and secretary of the Philosophical Institute of Australia. John Macadam never tasted the nut that bears his name: he died in an accident on a voyage to New Zealand before he had the opportunity. The following year, 1858, Walter Hill, Superintendent of the Brisbane Botanic Gardens, observed a boy eating the nut without ill effects — the first documented instance of a non-indigenous person consuming it. The nut reached Hawaii in 1882 when William H. Purvis brought seeds from Queensland and planted them as windbreaks for the sugar cane fields he managed. The first commercial orchard was planted in Rous Mill, New South Wales, by Charles Staff in 1888. Hawaii's macadamia industry accelerated through the 1920s and became the world's largest commercial producer for much of the 20th century. A 2019 study published via the Smithsonian found that most of the world's commercially cultivated macadamias may be genetically descended from a single small population of wild trees in Queensland's Gympie Region — possibly even one tree. Australia has since reclaimed its position as the world's largest producer.