Long before Ronald even opened a restaurant, macadamias have provided fast and delicious on-the-go eating for Australians making macadamia nuts The Original Macas Down Under.
Here are five reasons why macadamia nuts are Australia’s original fast food!
1 – Aussie macadamias are almost as old as the land on which they are grown
Macadamias can easily claim the title of Australia’s ‘original macas’ because they evolved in the rainforests of Australia over 60 million years ago! The nuts you see on supermarket shelves and in restaurants around the country are grown in the same places where they originally evolved, along Australia’s east coast.
2 – Macadamias are indigenous to Australia
Macadamias are members of the Proteaceae family and therefore relatives of classic Aussie plants like Banksias and Grevilleas. There are four species of macadamia and two are actively cultivated for commercial production. Wild macadamias still grow in the rainforests of Northern NSW and South East Queensland.
3 – A First Nations on-the-go food
First Nations people ate, gifted and traded macadamias. They generously shared their knowledge with early European settlers, including their techniques for cracking the original macas. In fact, Indigenous Australians throughout macadamia country devised ingenious cracking stones to help open up the ultra hard shell while protecting the creamy kernel inside.
4 – A healthy, wholesome fast food
Thanks to mechanised cracking techniques, Australia’s original macas are a healthy convenience food, perfect for our busy modern lives. Just one handful of macadamias provides you with plenty of good fats to promote heart and brain health, fibre for a healthy gut and long-lasting energy to support your busy lifestyle. They are also packed with plant sterols, micro-nutrients and antioxidants that help support holistic health and wellbeing.
5 – The original macas are good for you and good for the planet
When you eat Australian macadamias you can be confident that you aren’t just looking after your own health, you are protecting the planet’s health too! Macadamias are a locally grown product and our growers strive to work with nature and not against it. Macadamias are a long-term crop and with good management can be grown with ecologically sensitive techniques that preserve and protect the natural environment.