Let me clear the name up first, because it confuses everyone. The macadamia is not a walnut. It is not related to akhrot at all. It is an Australian tree nut that Pakistani shops started calling chabi wala akhrot, the walnut with a key, because the shell is so hard that the nuts are sold with a small metal key to open them. The name stuck. The nut inside has nothing to do with a walnut, in taste or in family.
At WD Foods, macadamia in shell costs Rs 850 for 250g, Rs 1,700 for 500g and Rs 3,400 for 1kg, rates I took off our own macadamia product page on 30 October 2026. Hold that price in mind, because further down I have compared it with what the big online stores charge, and the gap is not small.
What this nut actually is
The macadamia tree is native to the rainforests of eastern Australia, and the nut is named after John Macadam, a Scottish born Australian scientist. Two species are grown for sale, one with a smooth shell and one with a rough shell. The tree is an evergreen, and the fruit looks plain enough from outside: a green husk that splits when ripe, and inside it a round, dark brown shell about the size of a marble, holding one cream coloured kernel.
Today the nuts are farmed in Australia, South Africa, Hawaii and Kenya, among other places. Pakistan grows none commercially, which means every macadamia sold here, ours included, is imported stock. That is the first reason for the price, but not the biggest one.
The key, and how opening it works
The macadamia shell is the hardest shell of any nut sold for food. Cracking one takes around 300 pounds of pressure, which is why nobody sells them expecting you to use a normal nutcracker, and why your teeth should stay out of it entirely.
So the packers cut a thin slit into each shell before packing. The little key that comes with the pack is nothing fancy, just a flat piece of metal shaped to fit that slit. Push the tip into the slit, twist, and the shell pops open into two halves. The first two or three feel awkward. After that your hands learn it, and opening one takes a few seconds.
Lost the key? Wrap the nut in a cloth, rest it slit side up on a hard floor, and give it one firm tap with a hammer. One tap. Swing like you are breaking stone and you will crush the kernel along with the shell.
Why it costs what it costs
Three things stack up. A macadamia tree takes seven to ten years before it fruits properly, far slower than an almond or walnut tree, so farmers wait a decade for a real crop. The nuts on a tree do not ripen together either, so harvesting means several rounds of collecting fallen nuts from the ground instead of one clean picking. Then the shell that needs 300 pounds of pressure has to be cracked, or slit, by machine without damaging the soft kernel inside. Slow tree, slow harvest, hard processing, then an import journey to Pakistan. The price is honestly explained.
Now the comparison I promised. Khan Dry Fruits, the biggest online dry fruit store in Pakistan, lists its chabi wala akhrot at Rs 1,250 to Rs 1,400 for 250g, which works out past Rs 5,000 a kilo. Their roasted macadamia on Daraz is Rs 2,600 for 500g, again about Rs 5,200 a kilo. Our rate is Rs 3,400 a kilo. Same nut in shell, well over Rs 1,500 less per kilo. We are a Quetta shop selling in plain packs without the branding and jar costs, and on an imported premium nut that difference shows.
Taste and nutrition, without the sales talk
Nothing else in the dry fruit range tastes like it. Macadamia is soft, rich and buttery, mildly sweet, with none of the slight bitterness a walnut carries. People who find akhrot heavy usually take to this immediately.
On nutrition, be clear about what it is. This is a fat food, not a protein food. A 28g serving, roughly ten to twelve nuts, has about 200 calories, around 21g of fat, only about 2g of protein and very little carbohydrate, roughly 1.5g of net carbs, the lowest of any tree nut. The unusual part is the fat itself: about three quarters of it is monounsaturated, the same family of fat that makes olive oil respected, and macadamia has more of it than any other nut. It also brings useful manganese and thiamine.
So the fair claims are these. The fat profile is genuinely heart friendly. The nut is filling in a way that satisfies with a small portion. And for people counting carbohydrates strictly, it fits where other nuts do not. The unfair claim would be calling it a health food you can eat freely. At 200 calories a small handful, it is closer to butter than to a salad. Enjoy it in the portion it deserves, about 30g at a time.
Who should buy it, and who should not
Buy it for a gift, for a table where guests will notice something different, or for your own evening plate if you enjoy one good thing slowly. Our dry fruits collection has cheaper pleasures, and I will not pretend otherwise.
Skip it if your goal is protein for money. Almonds and cashews give you far more protein per rupee, and our full dry fruits price list shows the difference plainly. Skip it too if the shell and key business sounds like a chore, because for you it will be. And if what you really want is a true walnut, buy akhrot and enjoy the real thing at a third of the price.
Questions people ask before ordering
Is chabi wala akhrot the same as regular akhrot? No. Different tree, different country of origin, different taste. Only the bazaar nickname connects them.
How do I open them if I have never used the key? These are the pre slit nuts, made for the small metal opener key that is sold with macadamia all over Pakistan. Tip into the slit, twist, and the shell splits in two. The method, with the hammer alternative, is explained in the section above.
How many macadamias should I eat in a day? Around ten to twelve nuts, roughly 30g. That is a satisfying portion at about 200 calories.
How long do they keep? In shell, they are the best keepers in the nut range, because the kernel sits sealed inside its own armour. Store them cool and dry and they stay good for months. Once opened, eat the kernel soon, and keep shelled pieces in the fridge in summer.
Is macadamia more expensive than chilgoza? No. Chilgoza still costs more than double, at Rs 8,400 a kilo with us. Macadamia sits below it, which surprises people who assume the imported nut must top the list.
Buying from WD Foods
We pack macadamia in Quetta and deliver across Pakistan in 3 to 5 business days. Order the macadamia in shell at Rs 3,400 a kilo, or come to the shop on Masjid Road, open daily 9 AM to 10 PM, and we will open one with the key in front of you before you spend anything. That small demonstration has settled more doubts than this whole article.
Written by Syed Azib Anjum for WD Foods, Quetta. We pack and sell these nuts ourselves, and this guide is based on the questions our customers ask us most. Prices in this article were checked on 30 October 2026 and can change with the season, so please confirm the current rate on the product page before ordering.
Shop macadamia nuts · Browse all dry fruits
Written by
Syed Azib Anjum
Marketing Head and Writer at WD Foods
Syed Azib Anjum runs WD Foods, the online store of Wahid Nimco in Quetta, and writes or reviews every guide on this blog. His articles come from daily work with nimko, dry fruits and seeds, and the prices he quotes are checked on the live product pages of this store.
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