When one thinks about Hawaii, beaches, surfing, and pineapples come to mind, but did you know that Hawaii is a major producer of macadamia nuts? It is due to the tropical climate found on the islands that make Hawaii the perfect location for macadamia nut trees. In fact, anywhere that it is possible to grow coffee beans, macadamia nut trees will grow and thrive. With the production and commercialization of macadamia nuts being so high in Hawaii, one would be surprised to learn that the trees that produce macadamia nuts are not indigenous to the Islands.
The history of the macadamia nut is an interesting one. The macadamia nut (named after but not discovered by John Macadam) actually originated in Australia. The tree was not used for food in Australia until long after it was discovered due to the belief that the nut that the tree produced was poisonous, inedible, or both, which is the case in seven out of the nine species of the family.
Macadamia nut trees were not brought to the Hawaiian Islands until 1881 when William H. Purvis brought seedlings back from a trip to Australia. Purvis did not plant the trees for food or industrial use; the trees were planted purely for the ornamental use outside of his Big Island home. It was not until 1916, 35 years later, that macadamia nut trees were planted in Hawaii for commercial purposes. These trees were planted by Ernest van Tassel. Though he possessed an orchard and a processing plant, it was due to the unpredictable nature of seedling growth and production that his business was kept on a small scale. It was not until twenty years after Ernest van Tassel started producing commercial macadamia nuts that the University of Hawaii discovered a method of grafting that could produce not only a higher yielding tree, but a high quality nut that can be used on a commercial scale. Thanks to research, along with trial and error, the production of macadamia nuts has boomed in subtropical regions all over the world.