The candlenut (Aleurites moluccana) is a flowering tree in the spurge family Euphorbiaceae.
It is also known as candleberry, Indian walnut, kemiri, Varnish tree, Nuez de la India, buah keras or kukui nut tree.
The tree has been around for hundreds of years, hence making it difficult to establish its native range. Today, it is found in new and old world tropics.
It grows to a height of 15–25m, with wide spreading or pendulous branches with pale green, simple ovate leaves.
The nut is round, four to six cm in diameter, with a hard seed inside the shell which has a high oil content.
In some countries, its oil is used as a herbal treatment, a hair stimulant or additive to hair treatments.
The nut is often used in Indonesian and Malaysian cuisine to thicken curries and stews. In Indonesia, it is called kemiri while in Malay, it is called buah keras.
In the Philippines, it is traditionally known as lumbang or jatropha, as it is commonly referred to. In Hawaii it is called kukui.
A Hawaiian condiment known as Inamona is made from roasted kukui mixed into paste with salt.
In ancient Hawaii, kukui nuts were burned to provide light. They also extract oil from the nut and burned it in a stone oil lamp called a kukui hele po (light, darkness goes) with a wick made of kapa cloth.
Several parts of the plant are also used in traditional medicine in Sumatra, Java, Malaysia and Hawaii.
In Tonga, ripe nuts named tuitui are pounded into a paste and used as soap or shampoo.
Modern cultivation is mostly for the oil but most of the oil derived is used locally.
In plantations, each tree will produce 30 to 80kg of nuts, and the nuts yield 15 to 20% of their weight in oil.
sumber dari: kuali.com
