Due Process
 Looking
out over the rolling rows of glossy dark-leaved trees from
the verandah of the Pacific Plantations homestead, it’s
not easy to detect signs of an industry with time pressures.
But between March and October, when the trees start cropping
and harvesting is in full swing, the tempo changes from rural
tranquility to full production frenzy.
The fully mature macadamia nuts fall to the ground and are harvested
by mechanical methods or by hand depending on the size of the plantation.
Left on the ground for too long, their quality begins to deteriorate, so the harvest
is hectic. During peak periods, the machines will run up to 16 hours a day, seven
days a week, feeding several receival and drying facilities located central to the
plantations in order to ensure that the freshest possible product reaches the
consumer
At Pacific Plantations, strict controls are in place both
in the fields and in the nut handling process to ensure that
the nuts are in prime condition when they reach the production
factory. Even the harvesters were invented here to improve
time efficiency, decrease damage to the nuts and minimise
any likelihood of contamination of the kernels.
Drying is another critical step in ensuring a top quality
product. Removal of the green husks reveals tough brown shells
which are placed in drying silos to prepare the nut for cracking.
The heating reduces the moisture content on the nuts from
around 20 per cent at the time they fall from the trees to
1.5 per cent. This maximises the quality and crunchiness of
the nuts and facilitates more efficient cracking by shrinking
the kernel from the shell wall.
Here again, Pacific Plantations has made its own contribution to the
fascinating technology of macadamia production. Its unique drying
system is based on a process of unleashing the heat energy of
the macadamia shell to reduce the moisture content using low
temperatures. This leaves the nut with a more natural and fresher
flavour. And, noting that the hard shells burn at about the same
rate as medium-grade coal, Pacific Plantations commissioned an
engineering firm to produce burners which use the shell as a
source of dry heat used for the drying of the nuts. Ecologically and
economically sound, and with quality benefits, too.
Once dried, the macadamia - still in its shell - is sent to the
substantial
cracking facility located in China which provides superior
quality macadamia kernel.
The nuts are then re-sorted to client specifications, dusted
and checked by staff in the production facility as a final
quality control. Weighed and packaged, they’re off to
sabotage the willpower of customers around the world ... and
things are momentarily tranquil again out in the plantations.
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