Mmm....Macamadamia nut gelato

So we make a ton of nut flavors and I frequently realize how little I actually know about each of the nuts that we use.  I almost always find something really interesting and unexpected like how cashews are actually poison until they are roasted and you can't even touch the raw ones with your bare hands because of the toxin they contain (the same toxin that's in poison ivy).

Today I realized that i didn't know squat about macadamia nuts and thought I'd look into them a little bit.  First off they are the first edible thing that I have found to originate in Australia thought I'm sure there are many more. 

Each woody fruit of the evergreen plant contains one or two seeds and the flowers of the plant can be pink or purple.

Though native to Australia the USA has been a top producer of macadamia nuts since 1881 when they were first introduced to Hawaii as a windbreak for sugar cane crops.  Australia only regained the top producer status in 1997. 

There are only two Macadamia cultivars that are edible raw.  Like Cashews (and most everything in Oz) the rest are poison until roasted and processed.  They actually contain a form of cyanide... BUT WORRY NOT!! the food industry is very cautious of the processing of toxic nuts and the leaching and  roasting processes neutralize any potential danger. We use the ready to eat raw but still roasted macadamia nuts in our gelato so it is 100% safe and edible with no worries for any of us.

And finally is goes really incredibly well with some dark chocolate gelato (Cioccolato Scuro)

Cheers!
Sean