ISO Macadamia Nuts Ideas

[Midol]

Hey all.

I've done a quick search but it didn't bring up alot on my questions.

We currently run a Macadamia Nut Hobby Farm so it has around 850 trees on it so we are trying to find something to do with the ones we don't sell/sell some ourselves due to nut prices falling this year.

One thing I am experimenting with is Nut Butter.

All the recipies I find says just roast em and throw them in the blender with a bit of oil. I've tried this three times now and I don't get a consistency which is good enough. Once I have mastered this I am looking at using 40% coconut as that reportedly is the healthiest butter you can get.

I am also interested in how you go about covering nuts in chocolate. I gather you melt the chocolate but how do you dry the chocolate? If I place them on a sheet of something the nuts sink down and leave a portion uncovered by the chocolate.

If anyone has any other suggestions then please post them. I am opening an online store soon to sell these nuts and would like to add some variety to the store!

Cheers,
Michael.

 

[jkath]

Hi Michael -
I think macadamias, still in the shell, are so beautiful! Of course, once out, they are so tasty!
First, when you roast them, what method do you use? How high is your oven temp and how long are you keeping them in there?

Perhaps you can add vegetable oil to the coconut oil. I know it won't be as healthy, however, maybe that's what might give you the consistency you want.

As for coating, make sure to use chocolate that's made specifically for coating, otherwise it won't set up properly. You can use a little tool (looks like a tiny basket on a stick) to dip the nuts (this will coat all sides) and then when drying, you can put them on a cooling rack (use one that has a full grid, not just horizontal lines)
Hope this helps a bit.
I'm sure there are many folks here who know much much more than me, but you may need to wait till Monday, as the site gets a little slow over the weekend.
BTW, Welcome to DiscussCooking!

 

[jabbur]

For the chocolate covered I would double dip them. Dip them in the candy once let set. When dipping the second time be sure to have the side that was down the the first set turned up the second set.

 

[mish]

While I don't have a suggestion for roasting the nuts, here is an idea for making peanut clusters (rather than coating one nut at a time), & melting the chocolate etc. Hope this helps.

Black and White Peanut Clusters

Turtles are another way to go:

Chocolate Turtles

 

[Midol]

Thanks guys/girls

Macas are great! But you start to get sick of them on their own as you could imagine!

Roasting depends how long I have and how hot the day is. If its a cold day they are roasted on an incredibly low temperature and left in for about 9 hours. If its a hot day a higher temp and less time. Just depends on the day (otherwise the house heats up too much).

I'll buy one of those tools and a new grid for this - I don't even know if we have one! I'll give double dipping a go and see if that is an improvement. More chocolate is always an improvement though isn't it?

Those two recipies sound interesting - those turtles sound nice with the addition of caramel!

Thanks again!

 

[fireweaver]

mom & i used to make chocolate-dipped everything for xmas gifts for teachers, co-workers, etc. we'd dip strawberries, pretzels, and apricots that had an almond stuffed into where the pit had been. yummy! left over chocolate at the bottom would get peanuts tossed in, stir to coat, and all scraped out into little "clusters".

chocolate should be melted in a double-boiler so as to not scorch, or for a few seconds at a time (say, 10-15 or so) in a glass bowl in the microwave, stirring in between each go. like jkath said, ya gotta use melting chocolate, because regular ol bar chocolate (or hershey's kisses or whatever) just doesn't re-set right after melting. ghiradelli makes big sheets of "almond bark" chocolate - meaning it can be used for candymaking, not that it contains almonds - readily available at Sam's or club stores. not the best chocolate in the world, but certainly a cut above hershey's stuff, and that availability in bulk thing is a big plus.

we'd dip stuff in the melted chocolate and then let it set up on wax-paper covered cookie sheets. pop it in the fridge to have it set faster.

good luck with your yummy macadamias!

 

[Little Miss J]

I have seen macadamia nut oil, used for salads. As well as macadamia nut brittle, like peanut brittle and macadamia nut bread (like almond bread but with macadamias) for sale in Australia.

 

[Midol]

As far as I know to make oil you need a cold press but I can't find any smaller non super commercial ones.

I found one worth 100k lol - a little out of my budget!

Thanks for the other suggestions though!

 

[Little Miss J]

Uh sorry. I'd just seen it and thought it was a cool idea. I had no idea it was so expensive to make!

 

[Midol]

Don't be sorry! Maccas are 70% oil/fat so you get ALOT of oil from them and you can use the remaining 30% in pastes and such for cooking.

I know you can get smaller cold pressors for home use but I can't find one! If you ever happen to see somewhere selling them think of me!

 

[Little Miss J]

I will....although I wouldn't know what to look like if I did see one.