Macnut Crunch

Brand: Hawaiian Host

Cost: $1.09

Found at: Foodland

I grew up next to a university campus, which means I can sleep through anything. As a kid, I was often falling asleep to the sounds of college parties in progress, and because it was the only life I knew, I slept quite soundly. My mother, however, had no such luck and many were the midnight gatherings that she shut down. I suspect she was rather infamous.

Yet there was one house that was never visited by this specter in sweatpants, no matter how late into the night they carried on. This was Hawaii House, and this was because of Hawaiian Host. 

Hawaiian Host is the gift to bring from Hawaii. Their jaunty packages of macadamia nut chocolates are known and loved the world over because they make the perfect, affordable catch-all present for when you know you’ve forgotten someone on the gift list. 

The Hawaiian students knew this and would return from their holidays with a stunning base tan and a suitcase full of these chocolates. Then, on the day before any social event, they would strategically pass them around the neighborhood, inviting the neighbors to call them first if the music got too loud. The neighbors, for their part, understood the economic subtleties of the transaction: the more parties they allowed, the more chocolate would arrive on their doorsteps. So, for all the late-night shenanigans, scattered solo cups, and blasting bass, not a single party was ever shut down at Hawaii House. 

Yet, while I was aware of Hawaiian Host’s classic chocolates, it was not until I came out here that I discovered that this is just the tip of the macadamia iceberg. There’s macadamia coconut bonbons, matcha green tea cups, and every variation of chocolate-nut fusion you can imagine. The MacNut crunch for example, is Hawaiian Host’s answer to the Hershey’s Krackle bar. It’s a small, Reece’s cup-shaped chocolate that contains both macadamia nuts AND crispy rice. So, obviously, it is delightful: everything you love from Hawaiian host, but crispy.

If Hawaii House had passed these out in the 90s, they could have thrown a party at our house and we would not have complained.