Sunday, August 20, 2006

Tasty Nibbles.


Amongst the trees we grow a few of are some Macadamia Nuts. We gather them as they fall or just before is even better. ( just as the green outer shell begins to split ) We remove them from their outer green shell and dry them on an old sheet for about a week in the sun.( taking them in each night) We then shell them, with a special little machine that cracks the very, very hard brown shell. We then store them in plastic bags in the deep freeze and take them out to use as we want them. ( all types of nut are better stored in your freezer)
Yesterday DH got some out and prepared them as we usually do; to take as a nibble to friends.
method: Spread nuts in a single layer in a shallow oven dish or tray with a drizzle of olive oil. Put them into the oven ; turn it to 200 degrees centigrade. When the temp reaches 150 begin stirring from time to time. When they reach 200 they will have started to show signs of browning so watch very, very closely. Turn oven to fan bake and reduce temp to 170. Stir. Don't take your eyes off them till they are browned to your liking...see photo. Remove from oven and spoon onto paper kitchen towel to remove any oil. Pour into a brown paper bag; add 2 teaspoons of salt and shake closed bag. Tip nuts out into sieve to remove most of the salt. Let cool; store in an airtight jar (or eat straight away). Take to friends place with you and they beg you to bring them every time you visit ! There is no comparison between Macadamias this way with bought unroasted ones coated in milk chocolate.( Yuk! ) Dry roasted are divine and very, very good for us!

5 comments:

ForestJane said...

Oh, yum!

Now all you need is a quilted little 'macadamia jar cozy' to show them off... :)

Shirley Goodwin said...

Oooooohm macadamias are soooooooo good. I don't think we can grow them down here :-(

kirsten said...

Oh I LOVE macadamias! I still prefer mine raw though (minus chocolate, blegh!)

Unknown said...

You are so lucky to be able to harvest your own - macadamia nuts are so yummy but very very pricey in the UK so a special treat only sadly!

Judy said...

Sounds sooooo good! We have cookies here in the States that are made of Macadamia Nuts and White Chocolate...they are pretty tastey, but definitely not good for the bod!
I wish that I lived closer to you, because I'd invite you over for dinner (in hopes that you would bring along a few of your Macadamias!)
Love your Blog!
Judy