Article: America’s Nut, The pecan, indigenous to the United States, is showing up on menus across the country. Wine Spectator—October 15, 2002 www.winespectator.com
By: Sam Gugino
There are all kinds of food rivalries in the United States. Michigan cherries vs. Washington cherries. Kentucky country hams vs. Virginia country hams. Sonoma cabs vs. Napa Cabs. And when it comes to pecans, it’s Georgia against Texas, the largest and second-largest producers, respectively. Mary Pearson, co-owner of Pearson Farms in Perry Ga., thinks her Elliott variety pecans are “the most flavorful of all pecans.” And who can argue? Even Martha Stewart uses them. On the other hand, Shawn Oliver, president of the Oliver Pecan Co. in San Saba, Texas (the self-proclaimed pecan capital of the world), points out that pecans are naturally better from the Lone Star State because “we have pecan trees here from before Texas was founded. Georgia’s soil is more typical for pine trees.” According to Oliver, Texas is more receptive to newer, higher yielding, more disease-resistant varieties, such as Pawnee, Sioux and Cheyenne. “They can’t grow in Georgia because the humidity is too high,” he says. Elliott, Stuart and Desirable are the main varieties of pecan in Georgia.
Pecans are indeed native to Texas but also to several other states, including Illinois, from which the pecan tree, a member of the hickory family, gets its botanical name, Carya illinoensis. Today, the “pecan belt” stretches from Arizona to the Carolinas. The pecan season runs from October to March, with the peak buying time being November and December. Prices generally range from $4 to $8 per pound.
The American heritage of pecans makes them….
At the other end of the pecan belt, Mick Walker, executive chef at the New Perry Hotel in Perry, Ga., does the Georgia pecan thing. He likes to use ground pecans as a coating for pan-fried chicken and fish, especially catfish, which is served with caramelized Vidalia onions and peaches. “I’m originally from New Mexico, but I’m partial to Georgia pecans now,” Walker says. “Pecans out west are too dry. Georgia pecans are moister, oilier.”
The oiliness of pecans is a big reason why many people find them more flavorful than other nuts. Pecans are 72 percent fat, compared with 65 percent for walnuts and 51 percent for almonds. “Pecans have a richer flavor than almonds or walnuts, which is why you see pecans used more than other nuts in recipes. You don’t have almond pies,” Pearson says.
Once toasted, the high fat content enables pecans to stay crisper than other nuts, according to Fearing. But unlike other nuts, pecans don’t have to be toasted to be enjoyed. “Most other nuts, you can’t eat raw like pecans,” Oliver says.
So, where do the best pecans come from? I tasted pecans purchased directly from two Texas and two Georgia growers, as well as some from A.L Bazzini, a well-known retailer in New York, and my local supermarket. The pecans from Bazzini were my favorite. They had the deepest color, a rich nut brown. They were the nuttiest, crispiest and sweetest tasting of all the pecans, with the most noticeable pecan flavor. Where does Bazzini get its pecans? “We don’t specify [to our buyers] were our pecans should come from. We only specify a certain level of quality, which only a few growers can give us,” says Tom Rontiris, director of purchasing. “The ones you bought were from Texas.”
Amazingly, the supermarket pecans came in second. Though most supermarket pecans are anonymous, this package, which wasn’t refrigerated, came from Young Pecan Co. in Florence, S.C. According to Young vice president Helen Watts, the company’s pecans are a crossbreed called the Southeastern variety, which gets from as many as 16 states. Young’s pecans were attractive, plump and delicious, with a nice hickory-maple flavor. Sweet, button-sized Elliott pecans from Pearson and Ellis Bros. Pecans in Vienna, Ga., tied for third, followed by the larger Stuarts from Ellis. The rest of the pack was pretty bunched together, with none particularly noteworthy. My least favorites were the pale and bland Pawnee, Sioux and Cheyenne from Oliver.
While the debate ranges over which state has the best pecans, there is one thing that pecan devotees are in agreement on: how to correctly pronounce the word. “It’s pee-KAWNS,” Pearson says. “PEE-cans are what you put under the bed.”