Calorie content and chemical composition of macadamia. Useful properties, harm and contraindications for use. How the most expensive nut in the world is eaten. Kindal recipes and interesting facts about it.
Contraindications and harm to macadamia
No matter how hard you try, you will not find any mention of the dangers of macadamia. The only moment that can alert you is individual intolerance. And even she is extremely rare.
The nut can be used by everyone - young people, adults, children with not fully formed vital systems, and elderly people with exacerbated chronic diseases. Even pregnant and lactating mothers can eat it, since macadamia contains components that are the basis of mother's milk.
The only rule to follow is the rule of moderation. You should not, being tempted by the uniqueness of the product, rush into all seriousness and consume it in large quantities. Moreover, if this is a new product for you.
Start with a few nuts a day and see how you react. If tolerance is good, consume no more than 30 grams - 15 nuts. This is enough to get a good health effect and enjoy the gastronomic delicacy of the nut.
How to eat macadamia
The taste of the nut is unmatched. It resembles a hazelnut, but has a more intense, pronounced taste, with a sweetish-tart shade.
To understand the essence of the product, it is recommended to eat it raw, without any additives. The calorie content of macadamia is so high that it will be an excellent alternative to a full meal.
Flavoring this nut with salt is considered bad manners among gourmets. There are cheaper varieties for "garnishing with beer" - peanuts, pistachios, hazelnuts.
If you want to prepare a truly delicious dish, combine macadamia with seafood, and if you like sweets, glaze the nuts with sugar or dip them in melted chocolate.
Alcohol will perfectly set off the taste of the nut. The classic combination is the serving of macadamias with dessert wines and liqueurs.
Macadamia recipes
The high cost of the product does not allow its active use in cooking. However, there are still several well-known macadamia recipes:
- Baked beef … Grind in a mill or crush 1 teaspoon each of black and pink peppercorns in a mortar. Grind 100 g of macadamia nuts in a blender, add them to the pepper, pour the mixture onto a wooden board. Take 500-600 veal tenderloin, wash it, pat dry with towels. Roll vigorously the tenderloin in a mixture of peppers and nuts, send it to a hot skillet and "seal the meat" by frying on all sides. Wrap the meat in foil and place in an oven heated to 220 ° C for 10 minutes. Serve with melted butter.
- Paneer fish … In a hot skillet without oil, dry 20 g of coconut for a few minutes. Cut red fish into large pieces - trout, salmon, salmon. Season with salt and pepper. Combine 100 g bread crumbs and 20 g macadamia nuts in a blender. Dip the fish into the egg, then into the paneer. Remove any remaining shavings from the pan, brush with butter and fry the fish in it. When it is almost ready, pour 100 ml of dry white wine over it, bring to readiness, put on a dish with lettuce leaves. Sprinkle finely chopped macadamia on top. Serve chilled.
- Fried cheese … Take 100 g of macadamia nuts, lightly grind them, fry in olive oil. Boil the green beans until half cooked. Fry the goat cheese in a skillet in butter until golden brown. In a bowl, combine 200 g fresh arugula with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, 1 teaspoon mustard, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and 1 large avocado slices. Put the mixture on a dish, put cheese on top, sprinkle with nuts.
- Fresh salad … Grind the following ingredients into the sauce using a blender: 10 macadamia nuts, 1 clove of garlic, 1 medium-sized cucumber with skin, 1 celery stalk, 2 teaspoons of hemp oil. Place 100 g of the fine salad leaf mixture on a plate. If the leaves are large, it is better to break them with your hands, rather than cut them with a knife. Top with 2 celery stalks and 1 large peeled apple, cut into thin slices. Pour over the sauce, stir gently. Sprinkle with chopped walnuts.
- Chocolate dessert … Mix 100 g of butter with 4 tablespoons of powdered sugar. Gradually add 1 cup flour and 100 g of crushed macadamia. Melt 200 g of chocolate in a water bath, add a tablespoon of butter and 2 tablespoons of waffle crumbs. Line a baking sheet with foil, place slides of one tablespoon of chocolate-waffle mixture on it. Place a macadamia nut on each slide. Place the baking sheet in the freezer for 20 minutes. Remove the slides from the freezer, roll them in the batter to completely cover the chocolate with nuts, and place them in a candy or muffin pan. Bake in an oven preheated to 180 ° C for 10-15 minutes. Refrigerate cookies, sprinkle with powdered sugar.
- Glazed nuts … Take 1 chicken egg, separate the white from the yolk. Beat the protein with a pinch of salt and 100 g of sugar with a mixer to a strong foam. Put 500 g of macadamia in the mass, mix. Preheat oven to 200 ° C. Pour 4 tablespoons of melted butter into a baking dish, send the nuts to it. Glaze for 20 minutes. Remove and let cool.
Interesting facts about macadamia
When Europeans arrived in Australia, they liked the nut so much that macadamia immediately became the currency in trade with local aborigines. But it was not possible to collect large harvests - the walnut is quite difficult to harvest. It is believed that about 150 kg of nuts per day can be harvested by hand. If you subtract the green rind, and then also the hard shell, the yield of the product itself remains very small.
Serious progress in this matter happened when Australian inventors created a special machine for harvesting macadamia, which can harvest up to 3 tons of harvest per day. This increased the supply of walnuts to the American, European and Russian markets, but did not make it much cheaper.
In addition, the nut is quite difficult to open. It is almost impossible to do this manually, since the shell is very hard, and the nut is soft, and often deforms when opened. There are also special devices for this. All this, together with its unique gastronomic and medical characteristics, makes macadamia the most expensive nut in the world.
Macadamia oil is of special interest among culinary specialists, cosmetologists and doctors. It belongs to the highest class of edible oils, but due to its extreme high cost, it is practically not used in food. It is much wiser to use it for medical purposes or use it in cosmetology to create creams, shampoos, masks. Most often, macadamia oil is added to products for dry, problem skin, prone to chapping, frostbite, cracking. This ingredient is also used in burn formulations, after-sun soothing lotions.
But, despite all the uniqueness, benefits and significance for the human body, macadamia is categorically forbidden to be eaten by dogs. Scientists have not been able to determine which component of the nut is causing the allergy, but dogs become significantly weaker after taking the product and may even die.
Watch a video about macadamia:
Unfortunately, macadamia is extremely rare in Russian stores. The reason is its high cost. Due to the high fat content, the nut quickly takes on the taste of old butter. Therefore, such a product cannot be left lying in the window. However, macadamia can be bought to order or brought from a trip. If you have such an opportunity, be sure to take advantage of it, because the unique taste and health benefits are worth paying a lot for them.
