Kirk Donaldson, age 10, of Santa Rosa, Calif., for his question:

WHERE DID THE MACADAMIA NUT COME FROM?

Many planters are now starting groves of macadamia nut trees in California, and soon the western state will be exporting large amounts. But originally the tree was an Australian evergreen.

Macadamia trees were brought to Hawaii in the late 1800s and today the large, round nuts rank as an important crop there. In the mid 19809, Hawaii's annual macadamia nut crop is worth many millions of dollars.

Macadamia nuts have a hard, smooth shell that must be cracked by special machines. You won't have much luck if you try to do the cracking job with a standard hand nutcracker.

The white kernels are usually roasted in oil although some are dry roasted. The nuts, which taste somewhat like Brazil nuts, are usually salted before they are canned or bottled.

The macadamia tree grows to be more than 40 feet tail and has dark green, leathery leaves and creamy white flowers.

Macadamia nuts are also called Australian nuts, bopple nuts, bush nuts and Queensland nuts.