I moved to Baytown
in 2000. The house sits on one of the busiest thoroughfares in the area. The
noise from the traffic can be obnoxious at times – fire engines are a constant,
and the motorcyclists seem to think it is their personal raceway. On top of
that, we are only a couple of miles from Houston ’s
Raceway Park
However, there is a flip side to the cons on the pro and con
list. I have one full acre of land divided in half. My house sits on the
western half of the lot, one of Ramon’s sons has a trailer parked on the other
half. The house has a privacy fenced back lot that is shaded with some
wonderful trees. The trees are the topic of today’s entry.
At the back of the lot we have two pecan trees. Directly in
front of the house we have a couple of oaks and a pecan tree. For almost twelve
years I did not see pecans falling from any of our trees
I have often heard that a pecan tree will never produce fruit
in the lifetime of the person who planted it. They are finicky plants that
prefer a certain type of soil, weather and water. We knew the previous owners
planted some of the trees. No fruit was seen by the original planters, nor by
us. That all changed this year.
We have been picking up pecans for over two weeks. We gave
away about 20 pounds straight off the ground in the shells. Then Ramon and I
thought we would cash in on something that costs an absolute fortune at the
grocery store – shelled pecans. I have never worked so damned hard for so
little results. Hours upon hours of cracking and shelling. We put a price on a
pound of shelled pecans that was competitive with the grocery stores – no one
stopped to buy our product. On top of that, I caught Ramon eating our profit
margin. He said he was checking them for quality of taste. I said, “Don’t give
me that. You were never with Quality Control in the construction business. You
ran the crane department!”
It wasn’t long before my kitchen became a pecan factory.
Ramon cracked and shelled while I cleaned. I bought a scale to accurately
weight them and started bagging. I decided that, if no one wanted to pay for
them, I would give them away to friends. Best friend, Sue, said pecans were
going for the price of diamonds in Arizona .
I am bagging up several pounds of shelled and several pounds in the shell. If I
had purchased them at the store – geeze – my gift value just went through the
roof!
So I put myself through Pecan School 101. I learned that we
have three different types: the small, slender pecans are known as Giles, the
medium round pecans are Majors, and the big mama-jamas are known as Stewarts.
And they all taste fantastic. The Stewarts are the biggest I have ever seen.
They come from the tree in the front of the house.
Needless to say, my manicure is shot. Picking up pecans in
our black, sandy dirt is tough on the nails. Some pecans have the outer shuck
still clinging to them – try prying those off. It’s work. I have washed sink
after sink full of pecans. I have stood for hours cleaning them. But the end
result was worth it. I have fabulous gifts for my friends, and I took three
pounds to my daughter. I spent a day baking with her last week. I haven't had that much time puttering around in a kitchen with my daughter in many years, and I have had more
fun working on this project than anything else in a long time.
Please refer to my glazed pecan recipe in a blog below this.
I know the store-bought pecans you find on the shelves can often taste like
cardboard. I know Tina’s purchased pecans didn’t taste like anything compared
to the fruit falling like manna from heaven in my yard.
Storing Pecans:
In the Shell (uncracked) at room temperature in a cool, dry place - 12-16 months
In the Shell (uncracked) in the refrigerator - 18-19 months
Shelled or Cracked in the refrigerator - 9 months
Shelled or Cracked in the freezer - 2-2 1/2 years (in airtight freezer bags or containers)
They can be thawed and re-frozen repeatedly during the freezing time period.
Shelled pecans are good for almost 2 months after removal from cold storage.
Pecans are known to lower LDL (bad) cholesterol.
