ABSTRACT
This chapter provides information on uses, folk medicine, chemistry, germplasm, distribution, ecology, cultivation, harvesting, yields, energy, and biotic factors of Macadamia nuts. Macadamia nuts are eaten raw or, after cooking in oil, are roasted and salted; also used to make an edible bland salad oil. H. J. Rumsey recommends it also as a timber tree and ornamental. According to N. MacFarlane and B. J. Harris the oil is high in monounsaturates and palmitoleic acid. The composition ranges from 0.1 to 1.4% lauric, 0.7 to 0.8 myristic, 8.0 to 9.2 palmitic, 15.6 to 24.6 palmitoleic, 3.3 to 3.4 stearic, 54.8 to 64.2 oleic, 1.5 to 1.9 linoleic, 2.4 to 2.7 arachidic, 2.1 to 3.1 eicosenoic, and 0.3 to 0.7% behenic acids. According to W. F. Saleeb et al., nuts of Macadamia integrifolia and Macadamia tetraphylla are equal in oil content, with an iodine value of 75.4 and 71.8.
