Harvesting pecans off your own property will allow you to enjoy these tasty nuts without the high price tag stores give them. Home picked pecans also taste far better than any sold in stores.
While the pecan tree is the state tree of Texas, they also grow wild throughout the midwestern, southeastern, and south-central united states.
How to Identify Pecan Trees
The best way to identify pecan trees is to look around on your property in late May to early June through to harvest time (late September-early November). At this time the nuts will be pretty obvious, which will make identifying the trees much easier.
Harvesting
When the green husks surrounding the pecans start splitting open, it’s time to start harvesting! The first thing to do is clear an area under the trees that extends about 5-10 feet out from the drip line.
The best way to do this is to first pick up any large sticks and anything else you don’t want to mow. Then mow the area to a height of 1-2”. This will make collecting the nuts much easier.
You can then either collect the nuts as they fall or shake the tree to dislodge them.
How to Pick the Best Pecans
Here are some tips on selecting the best pecans.
Discard any with worm holes or signs of damage (or give them to your pigs)
Shake the pecan in the shell, if you hear a deep rattle this means the pecan is mature, if you hear a hollow rattle that means the pecan is immature
Pecans with noticeably tapered ends did not fully form, and will not be good when shelled
How to Shell Pecans
There are several ways to shell the pecans you have collected
A hand nutcracker: these typically yield perfect halves every time once you get the hang of using them. The only con to these is your hands will get very sore if you are doing lots of nuts!
A hammer and a board: this works almost as well as a hand nutcracker if you don't have, or can't find one
A heavy-duty nutcracker: these are great for large quantities of pecans
Drying Pecans
Drying pecans prevents them from growing mold in storage, it also gives them an added crunch.
There are two ways to dry pecans, you can either air dry them for two weeks in the shell or bake them at the lowest setting on your oven for about 45 minutes.
You can tell whether or not the pecans are dry by breaking a shelled one in half. If it is
dry, it will break cleanly.
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