BOTANICAL NAME Aleurites moluccana

The Kukui is also known as Candleberry, Indian Walnut, Kemiri, Varnish tree.

The tree is now widely distributed in the New and Old World tropics. It grows to a height of 15-25 m, with wide spreading or pendulous branches. The leaves are pale green, simple and ovate, or trilobed or rarely 5-lobed, with an acute apex, 10–20 cm long. The nut is round, 4–6 cm in diameter; the a seed inside and it has a very hard seed coat and a high oil content, which allows its use as a candle hence its one time name , Candleberry.

AROMATIC : The Kukui has a slight fatty scent characteristic of many carrier oils

EXTRACTION METHOD: Cold Pressed

COLOUR:Yellowish

CONSISTENCY: Typical of most Carrier Oils.

ABSORPTION: Readily absorbed

SHELF LIFE: Kukui oil is quickto go rancid; users can expect a shelf life of 3 to 6 Months with proper storage conditions (cool, out of direct sunlight). Refrigeration after opening is recommended.

USES: The oil is quite luxurious and is intensely moisturizing and versatile. It can be used in massage blends, or applied directly to the skin.

The Kukui nut is similar (though "rougher") in flavour and texture to the macadamia nut, which has a similarly high oil content. It is mildly toxic when raw.

It is often used cooked in Malaysian and Indonesian cuisine, where it is called buah keras or kemiri. In Java, it is used to make a thick sauce which is eaten with vegetables and rice.

Several parts of the plant have been used in traditional medicine in most of the areas where it is native. The oil is an irritant and purgative and sometimes used like castor oil. It is also used as a hair stimulant or additive to hair treatment systems. The seed kernels have a laxative effect.

In Japan its bark has been used on tumours. In Sumatra, pounded seeds, burned with charcoal, are applied around the navel for costiveness. In Malaya, the pulped kernels or boiled leaves are used in poultices for headache, fevers, ulcers, swollen joints, and gonorrhea. In Java, the bark is used for dysentery.

In ancient Hawaiʻi, the nuts, named kukui were burned to provide light. The nuts were strung in a row on a palm leaf midrib, lit one end, and burned one by one every 15 minutes or so. This led to their use as a measure of time. One could instruct someone to return home before the second nut burned out.

In Tonga, still nowadays, ripe nuts, named tuitui are pounded into a paste, tukilamulamu, and used as soap or shampoo.

Kukui nuts are also roasted and mixed into a paste with salt to form a Hawaiian condiment known as Inamona. Inamona is a key ingredient in traditional Hawaiian poke. It's the Hawaiian state tree.

CAUTIONS:None documented but nut allergy sufferers should avoid its use.