Macadamia

Raw material profile

It is considered the queen of nuts. In its subtropical home in Australia, the evergreen, sclerophyllous macadamia trees (Macadamia ternifolia) can reach heights of up to around 15 metres. Macadamia belongs to the original silver tree family (Proteaceae), the ancestors of which developed in the ancient continent of Gondwana (consisting of South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia, Arabia, Madagascar, New Guinea and India) in the Precambrian Age. Today, the tree is grown in Australia and New Zealand, on Hawaii, in Israel and in various countries in Africa and South America.

The appearance of the trees is strongly influenced by genetic variants and growing methods. For example, for months, long panicles of white or pinky-purplish flowers, which can vary massively in numbers, grow on the trees. There can be up to 500 blossoms on each panicle. They bloom from top to bottom. In Australia, these blossoms are pollinated not only by insects; birds and marsupials are among the more extraordinary pollinators of the macadamia tree. As a rule, after around six months only three to five percent of them mature into macadamia nuts, which, incidentally, are not actually nuts. They are what are known as stone fruit, as are walnuts, for example. Stone fruit are surrounded by an unwooded fruit flesh, while in nuts, the fruit flesh is completely wooded to form the shell. The extremely hard shell of the macadamia nut is enclosed by a green fruit flesh.

Macadamia nuts are known and sought-after as a delicious, healthy snack. Macadamia nut oil contains simple unsaturated fatty acids, which can reduce blood cholesterol levels when consumed. These include plenty of palmitoleic acid, a fatty acid which is normally found in animal fatty tissue and which has a strong antioxidative effect. B-group vitamins and vitamin E add to the value of macadamia nut oil for nutrition and also for skin care.

Origin, cultivation and processing

The fair-trade macadamia nuts for Dr. Hauschka Skin Care products come from the ‘macadamiafans’ certified organic small farmer project in Kenya. The growth conditions for the macadamia tree are perfect at the high altitudes around Mount Kenya National Park, where the trees are cultivated by small farmers. Despite the optimum conditions, it still takes around 15 years before the trees can be fully harvested, but they then last for decades. The nuts primarily ripen in the months from March to June. Straight after the harvest, the farmers remove the green outer shell. The nuts prepared in this way are then transported to decentralised manufacturing facilities for further processing. These largely employ the farmers’ family members. After a gentle drying process, the factory employees use specially developed manual nutcrackers to delicately remove the valuable cores from the protective shell, carefully sort them and then package them in a vacuum to prevent oxidation. It is a complicated process involving a lot of manual work, several stages of drying and short storage times, but it is worth it as a high percentage of the macadamia nuts remain undamaged.

With all this work, it is no wonder that macadamia nuts are the most expensive nuts in the world. Where it was previously often just the middle men making a profit, the macadamiafans project founded in 2009 gives the farmers and their families direct access to the export market. The project has its own traceability system where all steps are recorded digitally, from training and certification of the farmers, through purchasing, payment and processing to the finished product. Extensive training and a conversion to certified organic farming have given the farmers the opportunity to significantly increase their income. All of the profits from macadamiafans currently go into expanding the activities in Kenya so that more farmers can be offered a fair return on their products.

WALA buys the shelled nuts from macadamiafans and gets them pressed into oil in Germany. This requires real finesse from the people working at the oil mill. Macadamia nuts need the right amount of gentle warmth to separate the oil and oil cakes from one another. The valuable oil cakes go to organic bakeries in the area.

Why is macadamia nut oil used as an ingredient in Dr. Hauschka products?

We know macadamia nuts as buttery and soft. The tree protects this softness with an extremely hard shell, which is also enclosed by a very hard layer. Providing protection and a shell to keep the core delicate is one of the guiding principles of the macadamia tree. The oil can also give this valuable gift to the skin. It seems almost to combine with it and gives even sensitive skin a silky, protected feeling. This allows the skin to retain its natural moisture and beauty. With its antioxidative effect, macadamia nut oil also prevents premature skin ageing and is particularly effective on mature skin. In haircare, the oil smoothes the scalp and gives hair a natural shine.