Natural Bounty, Pecans

[Magicman]

I spent a little time picking up pecans today and finished filling this 5 gallon bucket before I quit.  Looks like we will get about 3 buckets this year.   


 

[CHARLIE]

I love pecans (correct pronunciatioin: Pee Can). Sure wish I had a tree in my backyard, but I imagine it would freeze.

[SwampDonkey]

Those look beautiful. Love pecans for the flavor, not quite a butternut, but a good nut. Folks in NC (or was it SC?) used to bring sackfulls of pecans off the plantation to my grandparents.  8) It's been years ago now.

[thecfarm]

Pecan pie.  ;D

[Magicman]

(correct pronunciatioin: Pee Can).

No, that is what we put under our bed at night to keep from having to go outside.

The correct "Southern" pronunciation: Puhcon.  (one word)   ;D

[Kansas]

I believe they have a hybrid between pecan and hickory that will grow in the northern states. Speaking of pecans, going to make another one of those Jack Daniels dark chocolate pecan pie today.

[Chris Burchfield]

This year I picked up a Duke rolling nut harvester at the hardware store.  Really does a good job.  I picked up 27 gallons this year.  Gave mom a five gallon bucket, I already cracked.  Makes for easy shelling after they dry for two to four weeks.  I paid $23. for the roller at the hardware store.  It'll pick up about a quart before you have to empty it.  This is the link for Duke's:  http://www.yardlover.com/duke-pecan-roller-nut-harvester

[Yoopersaw]

I believe they have a hybrid between pecan and hickory that will grow in the northern states. Speaking of pecans, going to make another one of those Jack Daniels dark chocolate pecan pie today.

Do you have a recipe for the pie?

[Jeff]

This year I picked up a Duke rolling nut harvester at the hardware store.  Really does a good job.  I picked up 27 gallons this year.  Gave mom a five gallon bucket, I already cracked.  Makes for easy shelling after they dry for two to four weeks.  I paid $23. for the roller at the hardware store.  It'll pick up about a quart before you have to empty it.  This is the link for Duke's:  http://www.yardlover.com/duke-pecan-roller-nut-harvester

NOW A WORD FOR OUR SPONSOR!

[CHARLIE]

(correct pronunciatioin: Pee Can).

No, that is what we put under our bed at night to keep from having to go outside.

The correct "Southern" pronunciation: Puhcon.  (one word)   ;D

Magicman, that is a Missouri and points north pronunciation.  In the Deep South, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi it is pronounced PeeCan by genuine southerners, but there are some that have infiltrated the Deep South and brought the misproununciation with them. :D

[Texas Ranger]

The only person I ever heard call them "Pee cans" was an aunt from Illinois.

We had no crop this year, I suppose due to the drought.  We usually get gallons of the things off 3 trees at the office.

[beenthere]

And it may be Charlie's been influenced silently by the Norwegians in Minneesota. :D  Ya, you betcha!

[LeeB]

I've been known to use both pronunciations, 'puh cons' and .pee cans'. Don't matter much to me. I do love to eat 'em, no matter what you want to call them. Some of the hickory nuts here look just like pecans, but don't taste quite as good. Not as sweet. I haven't seen any pecan trees around here.

[tyb525]

I just compromise and say 'pee cons' ;)

[CHARLIE]

Tom would tell you it is pronounced PeeCan. He and I had a huge discussion over this one time when we were sitting outside grilling steaks (His steaks look more like roasts to me) and sipping on some Jack. People that call PahCons probably call a 'mater a Tahmahtoe. ;D

[SwampDonkey]

Well, I'm some glad I'm far enough north that I speak southern. :D :D

[Woodwalker]

We had no crop this year, I suppose due to the drought. 

I bought 5#'s outside of Crockett the other week, $4.00 a pound in the shell.

[CHARLIE]

It really doesn't matter what ya call 'em. They are sooooo good.  I think a pecan grove is a beautiful thing to see. 

[WDH]

I am with Ty.  Always called them "pee cons".  I have 17 trees, but they did not produce well this year because it did not rain for 8 weeks this spring.  My sister makes the best "pee con" pie that you can imagine.  She always brings me one over for Christmas. 

Where I live is pecan country.  Orchards are a big thing.  BTW Jake, that pecan we cut earlier this year should be getting air dry in the next month or so, the 4/4 at least.  Pecan lumber is beautiful, but a challenge to work with because it is so DanG hard  .

[Magicman]

Growing up, Pecan crops were a mainstay of our family's "economy".  Lean Pecan years meant lean school clothes years, and a lean Christmas.  Every day after school it was Pecan bucket time.

The tenant farm families picked them up on the "halves".  By November, all crops were in, so Pecan gathering was a serious income producer for them also.

Danny, I heard you mispronounce it at the Pig Roast.   :D :D

[CHARLIE]

I always thought pecans were harvested by putting a big canvas around the tree and attaching some kind of vibrator to the trunk, then start shaking the trees. The pecans fall on the canvas.  Is that right?

[tyb525]

Charlie, I have seen videos of them doing that with certain species, I assumes pecan is one of them,

[DanG]

They have tree shakers, but most don't use ground covers.  They have a machine that sweeps them up then blows the trash out of them.

I've got the best crop I've had in several years.  Six of my nineteen trees are producing good nuts.  I'll never get all of them picked up though.  The market is really up this year, almost double the best prices I've seen before.  New export markets that have opened up are really impacting the price.

[Magicman]

Charlie, in today's age, yes commercial Pecan orchards use shaking and gathering devices.

Our trees were well over 3' diameter 60 years ago, so I doubt that they would have been shakable anyway.  Our hand gathering was the only mechanics available.

Some of those old trees have died and most are easily 4'-5' diameter now and are past any real production age or environment.  60 years ago that was all pasture land and the productive trees were always fertilized.  Now the old pecan orchard is grown up.

As normal about half of the trees around the Cabin are productive.  Others simple do not produce or produce small hard shelled nuts.  I leave those for the critters.

[sandhills]

Critters got to eat too.   

[SwampDonkey]

They are running $12/lb shelled up here, so seems like good money even if the farmer/gatherer got $6/lb with the right equipment. Tons of them sell not even shelled, come in in big bulk crates in the stores. I always enjoyed shelling nuts this time of year. 

[Norm]

So Danny since you live in pecan country do you know of a source for buying them online? I love pecans!

[Magicman]

Norm, here is one:  http://pecanhouse.com/index.php

[Kansas]

Yoopersaw, I will post the recipe with my changes to it in a new thread on the food board. That way I can find it easier if I ever lose the recipe. Going to title it "Great pies recipes" because since I started this baking thing, I am having a lot of fun with it.

[CHARLIE]

Norm, Mills Fleet Farm sells 1 pound packages of shelled halves for about $7 or $8, plus pecan pieces for cooking.  It's the best price I can find up here. Even cheaper than my source in Georgia.  I think they come from the east coast.  I don't know if there are anymore Mills Fleet Farm stores in Iowa but did find one in Mason City.
 
Mills Fleet Farm
3200 4th Street Sw
Mason City, IA 50401

[Norm]

Thanks guys!

[WDH]

Danny, I heard you mispronounce it at the Pig Roast.   :D :D

One guys "puh" is another guys "pee"  .  Blame this mess on Charlie.  He started it.  At least he did not bring grits into the picture or Coon and theCfarm would be ranting and raving  :D.

Norm,

Here is one of the local growers.  The prices are not too bad, about like good steak. 

http://www.werenuts.com/shop/category.da/products/pecansShelled

[CHARLIE]

Here is where I usually stop for pecans in Tifton, Georgia.

http://www.adcockpecans.com/

[thecfarm]

 :D

[Norm]

Thanks guys. 

Danny your place has the best prices but I see they have different varieties. Is there a certain kind that's better?

[WDH]

Norm,

These guys are the pecan farmers direct, not a dealer.  Honestly, I cannot help much with the varieties as they are all good to me. 

[LeeB]

I remember choctaw being a good variety. Didn't look at the link, so don't know what they are offering.

[DanG]

I find that Stuarts generally have the best flavor.  Maybe I should say the most flavor.  They are a bit more oily than most varieties.

[SwampDonkey]

Might as well ask which brand chainsaw to buy.   ;D

[WDH]

OK, since you asked........Stihl  ;D.

[DanG]

Long and sharp, if you're cuttin' pecan.

[Norm]

And put it in a ford pickup.  ;D

[thecfarm]

A food thread that went to wood. Is this a first? Most start out about wood than go to food.

[LeeB]

Food to wood and then it really went down hill, to fords.

[Magicman]

I skidded a Cherry log with a John Deere to be sawed by a Wood-Mizer under that Pecan tree.   :D

[CHARLIE]

I have some 2 inch thick slabs of pecan boards in my shop and a couple of bags of pecans in my freezer and my trusty old supercharged Craftsman chainsaw in the shed.

[WDH]

You better sharpen those planer knives  :-\.

[Magicman]

In my furniture building days, I used a considerable amount of Pecan lumber, because it is so abundant here.  Complete bedroom suite, various cabinets and chests, and over 50 clocks.  It is beautiful wood to work with, but it has a mind of it's own.  This, you can not forget.  It being so hard, you can sand and steel wool it to a polished finish.


 
A pair of award winning Pecan clocks.   

[CHARLIE]

Nice clocks!  I've only turned pecan wood on my woodlathe. I've never built anything with it though.

[WDH]

I have made a fair amount of v-groove wainscott with it.

[Dodgy Loner]

I always thought PEE-can vs. puh-CON was a north/south thing, but after moving to Mississippi, I'm convinced it's actually an east/west thing. My wife (from SC) and I (from GA) and most of our family and friends say "PEE-can". My grandmother (from Indiana) and my brother-in-law (from Iowa) are the only ones in my family who says "puh-CON". However, after we moved to MS, we have been "corrected" by our neighbors who say "puh-CON". I'm guessing that the PEE-can/puh-CON line lies somewhere in the vicinity of the AL/MS border. It would be nice to have some AL boys chime in on how they pronounce it

Either way, I don't like 'em ;D

[WDH]

Things get crazy when you go into Alabama and then cross into Mississippi.  Then they get downright weird when you leave Mississippi and go into Louisiana.  Then there is Texas.  Holy Moly.....there should be some kind of fenced and patrolled border there.  (Oh boy, now I will have nightmares tonight  ).

I went into a BBQ restaurant in East Texas and ordered sliced pork.  The waitress looked at me funny and said "Son, we don't serve pork."  What  ???.  How crazy is that?  Pork IS BBQ  .

[Magicman]

Actually here it is pronounced with only one syllable.  Puhcon, with the emphases on the con.

Dodgy Loner, I will straighten you out tomorrow morning.  Bring your lunch.    

[WDH]

Dodgy, don't listen to him  .  He is one of those West Southerners  :D.

[Don K]

It is a puhcon where I live in AL. I thought it rather funny the first time I heard it called a peecan. :D :D Same thing with A corn to my Acurn.  :D :D :D

Don

[Chuck White]

So Danny since you live in pecan country do you know of a source for buying them online? I love pecans!

I've bought pecans from these people Norm!

http://www.priesters.com/index.cfm

They'll send you raw pecans in-the-shell in a "I think" 5 lb burlap bag.

They have a regular store, they sell all kind of "good stuff" made of pecans.

[Chuck White]

When my son just retired from the Air Force, he and his family first went to Alabama to visit Audrea's family and then came north.

They brought me a 5 pound box of pecans that they picked up on Audrea's parents property!

I like the raw, unpolished ones better than the bagged and polished ones you can get in the stores.

[WDH]

I looked and I have one tree that has pretty good nuts on it.  They are just now beginning to fall (the commercial orchard trees are shook with a machine to speed up nature).  My oldest daughter will want to gather some when she comes to visit at Christmas.  There will be a pecan picking. 

Don,  I am an a-corn guy, but I have heard the LA version as well. 

[Norm]

Thanks for the recommendation Danny, these are awesome!

[LeeB]

You do know it's sacralidge to put penuts that close to pecan don't you?

[WDH]

Wow Norm, those look plump!  Mine are much skinnier  :D.

[Magicman]

Norm is gonna end up with puckernuts.   ;)

[sandhills]

 :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[metalspinner]

Mom used to drop us off after church at the cemetary to pick her puhcans for Christmas baking.  We would each have a 5 gallon bucket to fill.  Some yeras the puhcans were so thick on the ground it was like walking on a gravel driveway.

[Chris Burchfield]

I've frozen eight quart bags with four cups in each.  I used eight cups in home made Chex Mix that I toasted in a nonstick with butter then salted.  I have at least ten to twelve quarts more to crack and shell.

[DanG]

I have one tree that seemed to be just hanging onto the nuts to the bitter end.  Today, I decided to take the mower over there and clean up the ground under it a little better, since all of the leaves have fallen.  When I got there, I found the ground was already covered with nuts, and they are of pretty good quality, so I came back and got the picker-upper, a bucket, and a big dog food bag.  I picked up about 60 pounds under it in less than an hour.  I'll go over in the morning and blow the leaves away, so they'll be easier to find when the rest of them fall.  Must be another 150 pounds still on the tree. ;D  I'm about to be forced to open up a second dead mini-van for storage. :D :D

[CHARLIE]

I have one tree that seemed to be just hanging onto the nuts to the bitter end. 

I can identify with that tree! 8)

[DanG]

Hold on Charlie!! :D :D :D

[SwampDonkey]

Gee Norm, I hope you don't get that "puckernuts" Magic was talking about. Can't imagine what that'd be like. The pecans look very nice though. I don't see any in stores up here this year. Just see brazil nuts, sherbets and walnuts. I think most people in these parts seem to like walnuts more than pecans.  : I'm the oddball I guess, I always go for the pecans.  ;)

[beenthere]

SD

Just see brazil nuts, sherbets and walnuts

Not heard about that sherbert nut.

Wonder if it is like the hazelnut or filbert ?

That yogurt looks healthy tho. ;)

[SwampDonkey]

Yes got the filbert mixed up with the desert.  :D

[Magicman]

For the record, "puckernut" is a local slang name for Pecans.

Since today was a lazy rainy day, we spent some time finishing our Pecan picking out.  The final yield was 4 gallon size zip bags of shelled Pecans which will make lots of goodies.   


 

[Clam77]

Wow MM!!   

I could sit and nibble on one of those bags for a day or 3...    :D

[CHARLIE]

Dat's alotta puckernut pick'n Magicman!

[Tdawg]

OK, since you asked........Stihl  ;D.

Yup 8) 8) 8)

[SwampDonkey]

I like pecans, I think I paid $22 for 2.5 lbs bag awhile back.

[Magicman]

Yup, one of the local civic clubs was selling them for $10 per lb. at Christmas time.  This batch cost me about $30 for the commercial cracking and blowing.  The picking out is really easy after that.

When we have a good year like this year, we really have to stash a good supply in the freezer.  You never know, there could be none next year.

[metalspinner]

This batch cost me about $30 for the commercial cracking and blowing.  The picking out is really easy after that.

I was wondering how you got theose beautiful halves. :D

[Magicman]

"Secrets" are not always about ladies undies.   :D :D

[kantuckid]

I revived this thread given that I'm looking for next years source for pecans.
I miss-worded my post yesterday and got a warning, so lets hope this one survives. I also sent PM's to several here who grow nuts. 
For the record, I never buy nuts from the interstate sellers as they're too high!
We eat about 40-50 #'s a year, some given to my kids too.  I buy either direct from a grower from a web based ad or a somone who gets access to pick them up on shares and re-sell to me,etc.
I've had many varieties that were very good but have no interest in seedling nuts as too hard to crack out. They are great tasting though! Bought some nuts one year from MO that were smaller than wild nuts but thin shelled.
My nuts this year came from near Talledega, AL and they're decent not great, but not a great source and my old source in N AL dried up on me as he's in bad health. We travel N AL,
S TN, N FL and the length of GA each year, either to snowbird or visit GK's/family.

[Magicman]

I believe that the 2011-12 season was our last year to have Pecans.  Since then we lost our "Honey Bee" man, which I believe affected our pollination/crop.  We always had a good harvest when the Bee Guy Wintered bees on the property.  

[sawguy21]

I like pecans in butter tarts, a truly Canadian Christmas delicacy that I am addicted to, but other than that can take or leave them. Don't turn me loose near peanuts or cashews though. :D

[WDH]

I like all kinds of nuts, even some of the ones on here ;D. 

[SwampDonkey]

I eat pecans every day, along with several other kinds. But I grind mine and put on top of yogourt, which is on top of fruit (pineapple, or berries). They are pricey though, run about $30 CDN for 2-1/2 lb bag. They are cheaper at Costco, but the economics of driving 100 miles to Costco kills the deal. And the fewer trips to the capital city the better. :D

[kantuckid]

Here's a few places we use our pecans- homemade granola-lots a nuts! We keep a jar on the counter and I put them in store bought breakfast cereals too. No need to grind or chop, simply break them up in your fingers if halves for cereals.
  Wife puts them in cakes, candies and cookies. Holidays I make old time date/nut roll candy and use pecans. We put them on certain salads, in jello based desserts. Easy to create sweet treats in oven or slow cooker with brown sugar & butter. Good on salads.
I keep pecans and dates in ziplock bags at shop, in the woods to munch on when I don't want to head for the house, mid-day. We make pralines some years too, mostly do the coated nuts in crock pot though. I bought 40#'s last year and have 3 qt bags left. Got 50#'s curing on my screened in porch as we speak.
Next years nuts are my "project".  Lots of tard pecans go wasted every year cause people either don't cook, don't eat stuff not from a store in a bag or box, or too lazy/busy to pick em up. I never buy the high priced nuts off interstate ramps at "Pecan houses" or fruit stands as in today's world they're too pricey.
I crack black walnuts about every two years. Got a rack gear cracker that easily does them and hickory nuts too. They bring 15 cents a pound hulled at the wholesale buyers place here, shells more valued than the nuts. Very healthy! My hickory nuts are a fight with the squirrels as they begin before they are ready for humans. I had a campus tree in town where I worked-it had great hickory nuts but they cut it down cause it "got nuts on the sidewalk". Pity sakes? 

[kantuckid]

I eat pecans every day, along with several other kinds. But I grind mine and put on top of yogourt, which is on top of fruit (pineapple, or berries). They are pricey though, run about $30 CDN for 2-1/2 lb bag. They are cheaper at Costco, but the economics of driving 100 miles to Costco kills the deal. And the fewer trips to the capital city the better. :D
100 miles, nope, you can buy them at your keyboard off ebay much less than that! Or growers websites. I chase down the cheaper ones sold by the people who pick them up.
Same thing on maple syrup, I never buy at the store, only from producers. A few years that's myself.

[SwampDonkey]

Actually, the maple syrup is cheaper at the store. $8 compared to $12 or more at the sugar shack. Up there in Quebec, they have several years ahead in supply, so don't worry about a bad year or two. :D Up here even Amazon.ca is higher than the grocery store, even the Costco (Kirkland brand, which is a smaller bag). Yupik brand is super high priced, $46/kg ;). I'm in Canada, we don't have growers up here, and ain't nothing cheap unless it's been 'doctored' with. Shipping across borders will stop a freight train. :D

[kantuckid]

Buy from a syrup from a store as you like but my best deal on syrup is bought from producers. I'm a tightwad and know syrup prices well and have several web sellers I've used.  Last year we also bought from a NY farm direct reasonable on our return trip from Canada. It was right on the VT border and below Lake Champlain. My ebay source is on the same lake, the tip of the upper peninsula. The rpoducers have learned to ship 1/2 gallon plastic jugs, two to a USPS Medium Flat rate box for the better price point. FWIW, I generally pay ~ $40 USD per gallon delivered, which is far cheaper than Walmart or Krogers for cheapest syrup where 10-12oz is around twice that much per ounce. I've compared to Canadian groceries as I do like to look around in big food stores there and it's cheaper my way even after currency exchange which saves us ~ 20-25%.
I buy a darker syrup when available never liked the fancy as well, I'm after flavor! My KY sap is boiled on wood and mostly comes out darker plus I mix my sap some anyway. The issue here is spring time temps sometimes don't give the best sap runs as it may stay a bit too warmish in the night so early saps the better runs for sure. I tap 50-75 trees when I'm not in FL during the run.
I never buy nuts or syrup from any tourists traps along interstates, as prices are not to my liking.  
EDITED BY ADMIN

[SwampDonkey]

It works out to $USD 52 per US gallon in the grocery. I bet it would be even cheaper in Quebec. The exchange at any bank right now is $1.33-1.35 to buy a USD. Forget what the TV says every night, your not getting that rate anywhere.