Substitute for Macadamia Nuts

[vickiesltw]

What is a good substitute of Macadamia nuts. They are not available here raw at all from what I can find.

Wild Oats says they have never carried them. Help pleas

Lil' Brat

[Rawkinlocs]

I always use cashews whenever mac nuts are called for. If a recipe asks for both, I just add more cashews!

Works fine for me. I can't get macs in my area either. The co-op had them in once, but when they were all gone, they didn't get more :(

[levamssg]

I sub cashew nuts too. Sometimes a mixture of cashew and brazil nuts. I can get macadamias here ...but they are sooooooo expensive!!

[Crystl-jade]

I use cashews as well.

The macadamias are 17.00 per pound here. They are not organic and they have a rancid taste to them. They are not refridgerated,

Guess if you want a good macadamia, you've gotta go to Hawaii. If you have never tasted a freshly picked macadamia nut before, you are in for a treat. It's worth going to hawaii just for that, LOL


Crystl-jade

[jenna rose]

I can't get raw macadamias here. The only ones they have are roasted and salted and come in a teeny tiny wittle jar but the price is not so teeny tiny.

I use cashews everytime it calls for macs. I haven't tried brazil nuts.

Basic rule of thumb, I think, is dark nuts for other dark and light nuts for other light.

[Shivananda]

Hi Vickiesltw, Hi Jenna Rose,

You say raw macadamias are not available "here" but your locations are not filled in... makes it hard to advise you what steps to take. But yeah, I'll sub 1/2 cashews and 1/2 almonds if I don't have macs on hand. Not exactly the same, but pretty good. Brazil nuts are also good.

I love macadamias, and love unCooking with them. I have friends on the Big Island of Hawaii, where most of the macadamia nuts are grown, who are working on getting me a good price on a bulk purchase of raw nuts. Big question is, is anybody besides me willing to put up with cracking the shells yourself in orfder to save money? (And the key thing to know here is, the macadamia nut shell is about the hardest nut shell to crack anywhere on the planet.)

Anyways, let me know if you have any interest. Up till now I've just been working on this for my own use, but if there's enough interest, I might be able to buy a bigger quantity and get a lower price.

Mahalo (gives shako)

[heabrook]

I love macs. I would let my husband put up with cracking them :D

How much money are you saving? I've never actually seen a mac in a shell.

[jenna rose]

I'm in South Carolina.

But I'm fine with using cashews instead of macs. I have an extremely tight budget with a fixed income, so the cheap stuff is a-ok.

[swingbolder]

(And the key thing to know here is, the macadamia nut shell is about the hardest nut shell to crack anywhere on the planet.)


Even harder than chestnuts? One Christmas Eve I scraped up my fingers prying about 2 cups of those open.

[heabrook]

here's a pic of them in their shell and out of the shell. The shell does look very thick and strong.

http://farrer.riv.csu.edu.au/ASGAP/jpg1/000304.jpg

[Shivananda]

Even harder than chestnuts? One Christmas Eve I scraped up my fingers prying about 2 cups of those open. Oh my, if only i had known... chestnuts are actually fairly easy to open if you know how, but I honestly do not know how they can be used raw. In the cooked world they are starchy and unappetizing until boiled or prefereably roasted over a flame, when they become sweet to the taste.

Anyway, if you know what to do with them, here's how to open them... use a hooked blade knife like a bird's beak (or a linoleum knife, ho ho) to cut an X into the leathery shell, then peel back from there.

Pecans are pretty tough, and almonds can be monsters, but big walnuts are still major contenders for tuff enuff, especially if they are still a little green, and not fully dried..

Know how walnuts are shelled commercially? (Think Black Diamond, etc.,) I think it is a fascinating process... the nuts pass under tiny saw blades that cut a little slit in the shell, then they go into a chamber filled with acetylene gas, which displaces the oxygen in the shell, then they roll under a gas flame which ignites the acetylene gas, which explodes, blowing the shell apart but leaving the nut meat intact. They SAY it is not enough to cook the nuts, but I dunno. I trust the organic raw suppliers more.

But macadamias are in another league entirely. Sometimes you just have to give up with a macadamia nut.

[Shivananda]

What is a good substitute of Macadamia nuts. They are not available here raw at all from what I can find.Wild Oats says they have never carried them. Help please Lil' Brat Geez, where are you? PLEASE FILL IN YOUR PROFILES EVERYONE! It's crazy making to try and give specific advice to people who are "no location"

Wild Oats the company (based in Denver, Colorado, USA,) DOES carry macadamia nuts, you just have to get someone at your local store to get them ordered for you. The problem is, they run nearly $20 a pound right now, so you wanna be sure you will actually buy them before poking anyone too hard to get them for you. But a little bit does go a long way in making creamy sauces, which is one reason why raw chefs love them so much.

Anyway, not just to you Lil Brat, but to y'all and y'all and y'all, you really need to toughen up a little bit and get more insistent when talking to store personnel. Be polite, be kind, but be a lot more insistent. Stop giving up so easily. You can get ANYTHING if you are just willing to stand there and not give up til you get it. NO KIDDING!

If the first person you talk to says "we don't carry those," ask "Well, who can I talk to about getting them in stock?" and if that person weenies out on you, ask "Well, is there somebody at the regional office I can talk to about this? It's important for my health." Then if that doesn't work out, ask "Who in the Corporate Office do I need to talk to to make this happen?" Et cetera. Call the CEO's office if you have to. I have. With great results.

[Rawkinlocs]

There are "special" macadamia nut crackers that I guess will do the job better than your standard nut cracker:

Here is a rather simple-looking one (and less pricey): http://www.kitchenfantasy.com/macadamia_nut_cracker.htm

And here is one that looks kinda intense and is more costly:
http://www.islandgratitude.com/nutcracker.htm

And here's one more:
http://www.macnuts.org/

And yes, there seems to be a considerable difference in the price of raw unshelled mac nuts and raw shelled mac nuts!

Here is one such place that sells raw, in-shell macs for $2.99 for 1 lb, 10 lbs. for $26.99 and 25 lbs. for $55!! So, would it be worth it to invest in the higher-end mac nut cracker to get them that cheap is what you gotta ask yourself!
http://www.macadamia-nut.com/welcome_to_macs.htm

[Shivananda]

It should be noted that the California macadamias are mostly sold for birdfeed for an apparantly good reason, and besides, they are oven roasted.

That last link to the Hawaiian company was priceless. Although their price for shelled raw nuts is $16 per pound, plus shipping, a 25 pound bag of nuts in shell at $55, or $2.20 a pound is in the neighborhood of what I have been negotiating. Plus shipping, of course. But there is a big weight loss in the cracking process, because the shell is heavy. So I'd guess the effective cost if you shell them yourself will maybe wind up in the $8 - 10 per pound range.

But at least the following explanation of their process might help me to build my own mac cracker...

Cracking:
On the third day after picking the nuts are ready to be cracked. Since the kernel of a fresh Macadamia Nut is always stuck inside the shell other processing companies dry the nuts with heat for 1 to 2 weeks in big containers to shrink the kernel so that it gets loose from the outer shell. You want to have the kernel loose before cracking because you have better chances to get a whole kernel. Since we did not want to dry the nut in the kernel (loss of flavor, waste of energy) the question was: how can we get the kernel loose without drying the nuts in the shell for 1 to 2 weeks? We solved this problem by using a new patented method of cracking (patented process). The cracker shoots the nut with a speed of 400 mph against an anvil. This action knocks the kernel off but does not yet break the shell. A thousand of a second later a piston breaks open the shell. That makes it possible to crack a Macadamia Nut very fresh with a moisture content of 18 % (compared to 1 to 3 % with other crackers).

I'm thinking a small cannon might do the job... :)

[jagged]

I'm thinking a small cannon might do the job

Shivananda,

May I suggest something a little more apartment friendly, perhaps a blunderbuss! :p

[vickiesltw]

[QUOTE=Shivananda]Hi Vickiesltw, Hi Jenna Rose,

You say raw macadamias are not available "here" but your locations are not filled in... makes it hard to advise you what steps to take. But yeah, I'll sub 1/2 cashews and 1/2 almonds if I don't have macs on hand. Not exactly the same, but pretty good. Brazil nuts are also good.



{/QUOTE]

Here is Tulsa oklahoma

Lil' BRat

[Shivananda]

Wild Oats - 3.6 miles S - 1401 E 41st St, Tulsa, 74105 - (918) 712-7555
Akin's Natural Foods Market - 3.8 miles SE - 3321 E 31st St, Tulsa, 74135 - (918) 742-6630
Akin's Natural Foods Market - 7.1 miles SE - 7807 E 51st St, Tulsa, 74145 - (918) 663-4137

[Conscious Midwife]

Hmmm I thought I saw MAcs at my Wild Oats.

I knowI've seen them in Targets, but maybe that was in a cooked cookie.

No really ther is a trail mix at targets that has a considerable aount of MAc's surely not organic and probably roasted at to high a temp to be considered raw.

Sam's Club cares and awesome, candy covered MAC. yummy :D

[vickiesltw]

Wild Oats - 3.6 miles S - 1401 E 41st St, Tulsa, 74105 - (918) 712-7555
Akin's Natural Foods Market - 3.8 miles SE - 3321 E 31st St, Tulsa, 74135 - (918) 742-6630
Akin's Natural Foods Market - 7.1 miles SE - 7807 E 51st St, Tulsa, 74145 - (918) 663-4137

It is not a problem knowing where they are it is a problem because neither place has them and we asked several times for them however, they do not seem inclined to carry them.

Lil' Brat

[RawFoodieMom]

If I use cashews instead of macadamias, do I have to soak them first? I'm finding that after cashews are soaked they have very little taste. Unless the ones I got were stale or something.

Debra

[rawpriestess]

I use 1/2 cashews 1/2 pine nuts for mac nuts, or I just use the mac nuts if I can find them


RawFoodieMom

cashews need to be soaked, and are pretty tasteless that way, that is why they work so well in recipes, like cheesecake or cheese, or sour cream, kind of like the old SAD tofu, they pick up the taste of the things with them