Okari Nuts

okari nuts the product of a tree, Terminalia kaernbachii, which grows principally in Papua New Guinea, can be almost as large as a tennis ball, and have large kernels which, because of the way in which the cotyledons (embryonic leaves) are wrapped round each other, look something like miniature cabbages.

The nuts, which have a mild flavour like that of almonds, are eaten both raw and cooked. ‘Devilled in the fry-pan by the camp cook, these nuts go very well with the sundowner, when one is camped in the rain forests of Papua.’ Thus wrote a correspondent to Menninger (1977), who collected a number of interesting comments on the species, all agreeing on the good quality of the nuts.