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Pecans
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Pecans
are now available to just about everyone via the internet. Would
you like to know where to purchase pecans like the ones shown?
Click here.
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#1 Fancy Halves
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Pecan
Varieties and Descriptions
| Cheyenne |
·Highest
quality. ·Cream color. ·Superior kernel quality. ·Easy to
shell by hand. |
| Kiowa |
·Very
high quality. ·Large kernels. |
| Pawnee |
·Excellent
taste. ·Golden color. ·Early-ripening variety. ·Medium sized
kernel.. |
| Sioux |
·Extremely
high quality. ·Small kernel. ·Light color. ·Thin-shelled.
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| Desirable |
·High
quality. ·Large kernel. ·Golden color. ·Excellent taste.
·Easily shelled. |
| Shawnee |
·Long,
slender pecan. ·Golden color. ·Easily shelled. |
| Wichita |
·Medium-sized
kernel. ·Highest percent meat of all major cultivated varieties. |
| Shoshoni |
·Large,
round pecan. ·Easily shelled. ·Dark, golden color. |
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Pecan
Quality
Fancy
-
Full, sound kernels with no defect and cream to golden
in color. |
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Choice
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Full, sound kernels with no defect and light brown
in color. |
Standard
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Kernels with minor defect and brown in color. |
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Light
Weight -
Air space in kernels which are golden to light brown
in color. |
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Kernel
Color -
The lighter the color, the higher the value of the
pecan when all other factors are equal.. |
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Damaged
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Inedible kernels due to mold, spots, decay, 40% or
more fuzz, dark brown or black in color. |
cream color |
golden color |
brown color
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Pecan Harvesting,
Buying, Storing and "Sweetening"
Harvesting
Pecans:
Pecans are mature and ready to harvest anytime after the
shuck begins to split and open.
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Buying
Pecans:
The best time to buy pecans is when they are fresh during
the harvest season (fall months).
When buying inshell pecans, look for smooth, clean
shells and not light-weight for their size.
When buying shelled pecans, look for plump meats
which are fairly uniform in size and color and not light-weight
for their size.
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Storing
Pecans:
We prefer to store pecans in airtight heavy-duty
plastic freezer bags with a zipper-type closure. Pecans can
be stored in jars or plastic cartons that can be made airtight.
Label with the month and year of purchase.
Pecans should be stored in the refrigerator for six (6)
to nine (9) months or preferably in the freezer for up to two
(2) years. Pecans can be thawed and refrozen and not lose their
quality. Also, frozen pecans need not be thawed to be used
in recipes. If pecans appear shriveled or smell too strongly,
discard them.
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"Sweetening"
Pecans:
Pecans have two sources of bitterness -- naturally occurring
tannins in the kernel and pieces of corky material from the
inside of the nut which can adhere to the kernel.. Washing
can eliminate this bitterness.
To "sweeten" pecan meats, place the kernels
in a bowl and fill with lukewarm water. Stir and tumble the
meats in the water for several minutes; the water will be discolored.
Pour off the water and repeat the process at least once more.
Spread the pecans on paper towels and allow them to dry for
15 minutes or so.
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Pecan
Nutrition Facts
Pecans are low in sodium, high in protein and unsaturated fats,
have no cholesterol, are a good source of calcium, iron, phosphorus,
potassium, and magnesium. Researchers have found pecans to
be a good source of oleic acid, a fatty acid found in abundance
in olive oil and other monounsaturated fats.
Although 90 percent of the calories in pecans comes from
fats, almost all of that fat is unsaturated, generally thought
of as the "good" fats. Pecans and other nuts can actually
work to lower total (or serum) cholesterol and "bad" LDL cholesterol.
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Per Serving Nutrition Analysis (Serving size: 1 ounce
Shelled - 1/4 cup)
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| Calories |
200 |
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Calories
from fat |
180 |
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| Total
Fat |
20
gms |
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Saturated
Fat |
2
gms |
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| Cholesterol |
0
gms |
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Sodium |
0
gms |
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| Carbohydrates |
4
gms |
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Dietary
Fiber |
2
gms |
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| Sugars |
1
gms |
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Protein |
3
gms |
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Fact
(that you don't really want to know):
One
(1) pound of shelled pecans yeilds 3,390 calories.
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Detailed
Nutrition Analysis:
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%
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mgms
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mgms
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| Protein |
9.25 |
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Calcium |
73.0 |
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Sodium |
Trace |
| Fat |
71.20 |
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Phosphorus |
289.0 |
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Thiamine
(B1) |
0.86 |
| Carbohydrates |
14.60 |
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Iron |
2.4 |
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Riboflavin
(B2) |
0.13 |
| Fiber |
2.30 |
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Potassium |
603.0 |
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Niacin
(B3) |
0.9 |
| Water |
3.40 |
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Magnesium |
142.0 |
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Vitamin
C |
2.0 |
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Vitamin
A |
(130
I.U.) |
Links
to Growing Pecans
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Everything
you ever wanted to know about growing pecans (and MORE)!
Home
Fruit Production - Pecans
John A. Lipe, Larry Stein, George Ray McEachern, John Begnaud
and Sammy Helmers
Extension Horticulturists
And if
you had ideas of "organic" pecan production:
Producing
Texas Fruits and Nuts Organically
Julian W. Sauls, Marty Baker, Sammy Helmers,
John Lipe, Calvin Lyons, George McEachern,
Loy Shreve and Larry Steins
Extension Horticulturists
The Texas A&M University System
For our
friends in East Texas:
Pecans
In East Texas
J.T. McKennon, Smith County Master Gardener
Finally,
for folks who REALLY get into this gardening stuff:
Master
Gardener Homepage
The Master Gardener Homepage is provided as a service to the
Master Gardeners of Texas by the Texas Agricultural Extension
Service to assist them in obtaining timely information about
gardening, and to serve as a vehicle for communications between
Master Gardeners nationwide.
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A
Few Bits Of Pecan History
Pecans
are not just Texas' finest nut and official state tree, it would
be safe to say they are out of this world, having been taken
to the moon on Apollo 13 and 14 space missions.
The savory nuts grow on large beautiful trees that can grow
to as tall as 130 feet and up to 6 feet in diameter. Harvesting
can be a treat to see as they drive big tractors up to the base
of a tree and extend large metal claw-like arms around the trunk.
With a mighty shake hordes of pods come clattering to the ground.
Pecans have been native to Texas since prehistoric times. Fossil
evidence suggests that the trees originated in central Texas
and northern Mexico. Native pecans have migrated up through
Oklahoma as far north as Iowa and east into Tennessee and Kentucky.
Some isolated pockets in southern Mexico are believed to be
descendents of stands chased down there by Pleistocene glaciation.
Cultivated pecan tress now range all the way from coast to coast
with Georgia producing the most.
A variety of native American Indians included pecans as primary
staples in their diets during the winter months. Quite a few
migratory tribes planned their movements around the fall harvest.
The name itself, pecan, is derived from an Algonquin reference
meaning "the nut too hard to crack by hand". The nutritious
kernels were eaten whole, ground up as a seasoning or used as
flour and in some cases fermented into a drink.
The abundance of pecan trees was reported as early in the 1500s
by Cabezo De Vaca in his trek across Texas. As settlers advanced
into Texas they found the trees filling almost every rich river
and stream bottom land as far as they could see. With so many
trees yielding such a fine, hard wood, turning them into ax
handles, farm implements and fire wood seemed only natural.
By the early nineteen hundreds the pecan tree had almost disappeared
from Texas. A sentimental James Hogg, Texas' first native governor,
lamented from his death bed "I want no monument of stone
or marble, but plant at my head a pecan tree ... let the pecans
... be given out among the plain people of Texas, so that they
may plant them and make Texas a land of trees." Thus started
a movement that culminated in 1919 with the pecan declared the
Texas state tree. |
Links
to Pecan Recipes
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This beauty
is Susie(1). She lives in Hermann Park in Houston, Texas. She
is very fond of pecans.
And, yes, there is a Susie(2). Click here
to see her photos. |
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