I used my urban foraging skills today to pick these. The tree is on a council reserve on our walk to and from preschool. I thought they were macadamia nuts, but now I'm not so sure. I quick look online and all the pictures I come up with look slightly different. So I need some help, do you think that they are macadamia nuts? I hope so, I have a few recipes in mind that a few free macadamias would be great in. Also my online reading leads me to believe that I have to dry these out for 6-8 weeks before cracking them, it seems a shame to waste all that time on something that might not be edible!Happy weekend to you.
OK an update - I wrote to the NZ Gardner magazine and they identified these for me. Unfortunately they aren't edible, they suggest that they are Indian horse Chestnuts. the nuts are toxic and shouldn't be eaten but they are sometimes used in herbal preparations after treatment, boiling.
So there you go - if you spot some - don't eat them. They were however very fun to gather and now they will be delivered to the compost bin so all is not lost.
They look a bit dark to be macadamias. Perhaps horse chestnuts? I'm definitely no expert though, I hope they turn out to be something edible!
ReplyDeleteGrerat find! Macadamia nuts are smaller, shiny brown and round without those spots on the outside. On the inside the nut is creamy. Macadamia nuts need a warm tropical climate like Queensland so probably wouldn't grow so well in New Zealand. They look like they could be edible though....
ReplyDeleteI think they are sweet chestnuts, the kind you can roast in the fire embers, take off the shiny brown outisde and eat the middle. If they are these they are delicious!!! I have just been told about some in our town so I'm going looking tomorrow - will see if they are like these! x
ReplyDelete