Crack the Mac

Why are macadamia nuts so expensive? It's probably because it takes so long to get them out of their shells. We have two or three macadamia nut trees in our yard, but although there are thousands of nuts, it takes forever just to crack a small bowl's worth. Jairin has become our expert. First he gathers the nuts after they fall from the tree. Then the nuts have to sit for about a month before they are cracked. Since macadamia nuts have the hardest shells of all nuts, (it takes 300 pounds per square inch of pressure to crack the shell which means that even driving a car over a nut will not crack the shell), Jairin takes his hammer to the nuts. Since each individual nut has to be carefully cracked with a hammer (just the right amount of pressure so as not to smash the nut to oblivion), it takes hours just to crack a small basket worth of nuts. After they are cracked, they can finally be slow roasted in the oven.

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