[2] Usually, it is found in rainforests, secondary forests, old garden areas, around villages and settlements[1] and is also used as a shade tree, as a windbreak and in agroforestry.

[3] Canarium indicum is an evergreen, large tree with a fluted, buttressed trunk, heavy lateral branches and a dense canopy.

[1] Best germination rates are achieved when seeds are depulped by removal of the mesocarp, planted soon after harvesting and placed 10 mm (0.39 in) deep in light soils (sand and peat or topsoil).

[2] Ground cover should be regularly slashed or mown to minimize competition with trees as seedlings best survive under intermediate light levels.

[1] Canarium cultivation has produced various cultivars with inherent pest and disease resistance, which could be used in breeding programs.

[4] Fruit consists of an outer skin (exocarp), flesh (mesocarp), nut-in-shell, and edible kernel in testa.

[1] Nut picking can last for 2–4 months, thus the area under the tree is typically kept clean and fallen fruits can be easily collected.

[5] Harvesting from the tree by breaking off the fruiting branchlets has been found to be beneficial as it encourages renewed growth and flowering.

[3] The processing of the seeds consists mainly in removing the shell and drying kernels directly on farm by smoking to allow a stable storage for months.

[5] Total production of Canarium in western Melanesia with 2 million trees is estimated to be more than 100’000 t of nuts-in-shell (16’000 t of kernels-in-testa with 16% kernel content) per year.

[2][4] Kernels are eaten raw, baked or roasted, used as a snack or added to other food, such as staple root crops, soups or even crushed and used as ice-cream toppings.

Depending on the regions, they can also be used in different ways, like added to megapode eggs in the Solomon Islands or mixed with tuber puddings in Vanuatu.

Furthermore, they can also be burned in kilns to produce clean, dense and high-grade charcoal fuel, which can be refined to "activated carbon" for pharmaceutical uses.

[9] Canarium kernels seem to possess anti-inflammatory activity through inhibition properties of its oil on prostaglandin (PGE 2) production in 3T3 Swiss Albino fibroblast cells, which workes in the same ways as aspirin.

[9] However, the IgE specific to Canarium indicum can be found among pollen allergenic patients, which addresses the need for control of new foods before the introduction to a new market.

[12] Local varieties have been developed through selection of trees based on the kernel taste and size, oil content and thin pericarp.

[3] The various cultivars differing in shells and kernels morphology are an obstacle to breeding programs, productivity and profitability increase.

[4] Since the early 1990s, a number of projects aimed to increase the commercialization of Canarium indicum, with mixed success.

[3] Products are available in local supermarkets and duty-free stores in Papua New Guinea in three variants: roasted, peeled or natural.