Pecan

A nut from the hickory family. The name comes from the Algonquian word pacane, meaning "nut to be cracked with a rock", the fruit of an imposing tree that originated in the Mississippi Valley. The nuts were one of the staples of the Native American diet before the arrival of the Europeans. The pecan tree was a great source of fascination for Thomas Jefferson, who often wrote to his friends requesting nuts, eventually planting hundreds of pecan trees and generously sharing his yield with friends. On March 25, 1775, George Washington planted pecans at Mount Vernon from nuts sent to him by Jefferson. Three of the trees are still growing on the bank of the Potomac River. According to tradition, some of the pecan trees at the St. George Tucker House in Williamsburg, Virginia, grew from pecans that Jefferson gave to Tucker.

The U.S. has cultivated the pecan extensively, especially in Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia and Florida. There are more than 300 varieties of pecan trees; one of them is adapted to cold climates and can be found growing in Canada. The first graft was made in 1846 by a Louisiana slave named Antoine, who was said to have grafted 126 trees in his lifetime. In the 1960s, Australia became a major producer, with Israel following suit in the 1970s.

The pecan tree can live hundreds, or even thousands, of years and can reach more than 16 feet (5 m) in height. Its flowers, not surprisingly, look like those of the hazelnut tree, since they belong to the same family. It takes 10 years for the tree to produce profitably, but from that time on, it can easily produce more than 400 pounds (180 kg) of nuts yearly. Pecans should be eaten within three weeks of harvesting, because their high oil content makes them go rancid quickly. See also hickory nut.

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