Carrick (Macadamia Nut) Cracker

 Because so many macadamia nuts are produced in Hawaii, many people around the world don’t realise they’re actually an Australian native; related to the Banksia, the Bottle brush, the Woody Pear and the South African Protea.  They all belong to the ancient Proteaceae family, which has members in all the old Gondwana continents of the Southern Hemisphere – Australia, New Zealand, South America, South Africa and southern India.

Australia’s Macadamias were discovered by explorer Alan Cunningham in 1824.  As few in those times felt anything of any real value grew here indigenously, it took almost a hundreds before they were grown commercially.  And that was in Hawaii from nuts taken there by US farmers, who could smell (and taste!) an opportunity. 

By the 1960s, long after the Americans had fallen in love with their wonderful flavour and texture, Australian farmers finally started to grow "Macas" commercially too.

Most Australian commercial nut farms are in the north east of New South Wales, but they also do well at Milsons Passage.

We are not sure when the first trees were planted here, but a pencil message on the back of a cupboard door in our old boathouse records that some were planted outside in 1942 They and many others are still going well, but how do you crack them to get at the delicious kernel. 

Text books say that macadamia is the hardest nuts to crack in the world and that 300 pound per square inch of pressure is needed to break their shells.  Certainly a hammer is not the answer.

So the Carrick Cracker, the stress-free local way to crack the problem – and also the nut!