Yummy!
As a kid I loved the Coffee Nips that my grandparents often had around the house. Nuts, too, were a favored snack. How many times was I scolded for picking the cashews out of the mixed nuts? How many hours did I spend trying to learn to crack Brazil nuts in a way that preserved the creamy interior nut intact? Oh, I remember the first time I ate the buttery goodness of a macadamia nut... and how crushed I was to learn how expensive they were.
Yesterday I discovered these Mauna Loa Kona Coffee Glazed Macadamia Nuts and threw my $4.00 down faster than you can say "Aloha!" This product lives up to the promise of combining the deliciousness of whole (or large pieces of) macadamia nuts with the sweet candy flavor of the Coffee Nips of my youth. Unlike the Chocolate Cocoa Dusted Macadamia Nuts I tried this winter, which were too-thickly covered in a bland, waxy chocolate-like substance, the Kona Coffee Glazed nuts are just thinly glazed so the nut is highlighted by the sweet coffee covering. This is even more exciting than the Hershey's Special Dark Macadamia Nut Kisses I discovered in December!
It's not my imagination that there seem to be more macadamia nut products hitting the market this year. According to this article at the Honolulu Advertiser, Hawai'i macadamia nut growers are struggling to unload their product. A bumper crop this season and last season has resulted in a glut of nuts and prices are likely to fall. While this is not great news for macadamia producers, it's a great time for a macadamia lover like me.
Labels: food
It is likely that the Mac Nuts you consumed are not from Hawaii as the producer, Herseys bought the company on the product you displayed. They, Herseys are imposting Mac Nuts from Australia and thus lowering the price to farmers but not to you.
I am a Kona coffee farmer but also have some Mac Nut trees on our farm. In 2005 the price was $1 per pound to the farmer. 2006 it was 65 cents a pound to the farmer. My last check was 50 cents a pound. I hope you really enjoyed your Mac Nuts. We can't afford to have them harvested now.
Please boycott Hersey's.
Konapage, I'm really sorry to hear that you aren't able to sell your nuts. I really wish you hadn't added the "I hope you really enjoyed your Mac Nuts" part, though, because as bitter as you are that you can't sell your nuts it's not MY FAULT. In fact, I did enjoy them.
Just as I can't afford Kona coffee, I can't usually afford Macadamia nuts either. This was a treat for me. I'll certainly think twice before buying them again, but then what? Now Hershey's doesn't have whatever percentage of my $4.00 actually goes to them, the market for Macadamia nuts hasn't increased at all and they still cost $1.50 an ounce and you're still getting 50 cents a pound. Driving down demand for Hershey isn't going to make them buy from indy farms at a higher price... so what's the plan?
I'm a business that has also suffered from a market downturn, with a multinational corporation the overwhelming 800 pound gorilla, printing tens of thousands of books in Asia while small family businesses try to compete and hear from the end customer about our prices or availability.
I don't mean to sound unsympathetic, because I really do understand what you're saying.
We've been enjoying chocolate macadamia nuts from Dilettante Chocolates from the SIFF Cinema concession stand during the Janus Films series. Mmm! You need to try them.
Jenny