Macadamia Nuts & dried fruit & Oils
ORGANIC RAW MATERIALS FOR FOOD & COSMETICS
We are a German-Kenyan company and one of the leading organic macadamia producers worldwide. The top-notch B2B nuts & dried fruit and oils come from our own production. We purchase the harvests directly from our contract farmers in Kenya in the fertile region of Embu.
Nuts & dried fruit directly from the producer
Everything from a single source: we offer organic raw materials from our own production and purchased locally from our certified contract smallholders. We guarantee a completely transparent supply chain and 100% traceability.
Our customers include international wholesalers, food producers, and the cosmetics, bakery, and confectionery industry.
Macadamia cultivation in Kenya
When we were looking for a unique organic product, we found it in Kenya: There, smallholders traditionally plant macadamia trees, taking advantage of the special benefits of organic mixed farming. The dense foliage provides shade for other fruit and vegetable plants. At the same time, the strong board roots protect the soil from erosion. Hence a perfect crop that meets the challenges of climate change.
The macadamia is a valuable type of nut that was previously almost impossible for European food and cosmetics manufacturers to obtain in certified organic quality.
LIMBUA has closed this gap and is now the organic macadamia nuts market leader.
Adding value locally
Kenya's smallholders are macadamia experts. They do not only know about cultivation and harvesting, many of the family members of the smallholders also work in our factories and are therefore also professionals in drying, cracking and selecting. Therefore, we leave the added value as far as possible in the country and thus create as many jobs as possible.
Interesting facts about the nut
The evergreen macadamia tree reaches an impressive size of up to 15 meters. After about seven years, it bears up to 50 kilograms of macadamia nuts, which ripens gradually. The aromatic nuts are covered by a thick protective skin, which is removed after harvesting.
Gentle drying reduces the moisture content of the nuts to a maximum of 1 to 2 percent. Then it is time to break open the extremely hard shell with a special nutcracker. LIMBUA has developed its own tools and machines for this purpose, which preserve the valuable kernels in the best possible way.
Utilization down to the hard shell
Macadamia nuts are particularly valuable nuts. But their coating can also be put to good use. The thick, fibrous protective skins bind CO2 and serve as mulch on the cultivated land. In this way, they prevent the soil from drying out and return nutrients to it.
Around 2,800 tons of nutshells are produced each year during the cracking process. The nutshells are being used to heat the ovens in the drying plants to dry the nuts in a sustainable manner.
Avocados enrich organic market
LIMBUA wants to constantly expand market opportunities for Kenyan smallholder farmers. That is why we have now included organic avocado oil in our product range. "Hass" and "Fuerte" are the names of the varieties that grow in the shade of the macadamia trees.
Perfectly ripened, they are pressed into high-quality organic oil in our new on-site manufactory. The result is a sought-after ingredient for aromatic salad oil or nourishing natural cosmetics.