When is pecan season

Right next to the 5-foot saws that can cut flat, even sheets of wood out of a year-old pecan tree are some of the machines that shake, sweep, sort and clean hundreds of pounds of pecans at a time. They harvest pecans from October to January, but Swift says they usually try to finish up by Christmas. If they wait for them to fall naturally, feral hogs will get them first.

The pecan belt, however, starts in Mexico and extends all the way to Illinois, and reaches from the Carolinas to California. Georgia and Texas were always the top-producing states, but New Mexico took the top spot last year. Last year, the U. In response, regional pecan industries are now collaborating on a federal marketing program that has increased domestic demand to help compensate for that shift in exports.

Lamar Senior Activity Center offers pecan cracking. The real winner in this tariff fight is Mexico, whose overall pecan production outpaced the U. Pecan growers in the U. Germany is the largest European buyer of American pecans, importing more than 9 million pounds, but now the U. Growers are now looking into new geographic markets, such as India, which is reducing its tariffs on pecans, but also new markets within the U.

With a large, diversified grower network that includes backyard pecan farmers and midsize, multigenerational orchards, the pecan industry is in some ways catching up to the almond and walnut industries, which are dominated by only a few companies in a smaller geographic region. Part of that includes learning how to market the different qualities of nuts and find new ways of using them. Pecan quality goes downhill even faster when the nuts are still in shells.

The store, which started in next to the Berdoll family pecan orchard, now has an on-site production facility that makes pecan candies, confections and pies for customers year-round. If you want to add a pecan tree to your yard, they also sell a number of varieties of ready-to-plant pecan trees. Austinuts , which has a retail store at W. Anderson Lane, has been selling dry-roasted pecans since , and another local pecan company, 38 Pecans , has a seasonal retail store that just opened for the season at Research Blvd.

As specialty diets have increased in popularity, so has the availability of pecan milk, pecan flour, pecan butter and pecan oil, which are all touted as having many of the same heart-healthy antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties as whole pecans. Houston-based company Malk sells pecan milk in stores nationwide, and the Dripping Springs-based Art of Pecan recently added an additional mill to make its pecan oil.

Swift has a dog in the fight, but he says pecans go good with just about any food, sweet or savory. Our sticky buns are made with buttery, soft brioche dough and baked in a buttercream-brown sugar-honey concoction that we call goo.

This recipe tests my theory: We mix popcorn with toasted pecans and a light goo coating, then bake it all together to make it extra crispy and caramelized. Sharing a big bowl of this with Christopher while watching TV, lying on the couch, is the best way I know to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Heat the oven to degrees and place racks in the center and bottom third of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set them aside. In a very large pot with a lid, heat the oil over high heat until hot.

Add the popcorn kernels, cover the pot, and reduce the heat to medium-high. Shake the pot every few seconds until you start to hear the popping. As soon as you can hear it popping, shake the pot constantly. When the popping slows down to 1 pop every few seconds, turn off the heat but keep shaking. Harvesting your pecans has never been easier with our pecan Bag-A-Nut models.

The Stab-A-Nut model is great for small areas with trees. These harvesters will make picking up your freshly dropped pecans a breeze. Leave a comment. Crab Apple Recipes Nov 11, Pecans are typically harvested mid-October through November, and these tasty nuts make a great addition to muffins, cookies, pies, and other baked goods.

Head outdoors and take advantage of one of the fall's best freebies. To find wild pecans, you'll need to familiarize yourself with what a pecan tree looks like. Pecan trees are actually in the hickory family. They are very large trees, growing up to an average of to feet tall, and can exceed feet under the right conditions. The leaves are almost frond-like, with smaller, pointy leaflets of about 4 to 7 inches growing symmetrically on a stem that's up to around 18 to 20 inches long.

Most importantly, if you've found a pecan tree and it's harvest time, you're likely to find pecans on the ground or to spot them among the leaves of the tree. All varieties of pecans are edible, so you don't need to worry about which kind of pecan you've found. Pecan nuts on the tree are contained in their shells in an outer husk or hull. This hull is green, and you'll see hulls in clusters among the tree's branches. You'll need to bring along buckets to carry your nuts, plus a nutcracker if you want to try some while you're gathering.

Here's what to do:.