Although not a deep dive into pecans. TH-camr "SmarterEveryDay" did a segment on harvesting pecans a couple of years ago. th-cam.com/video/aK5AnViPkJ0/w-d-xo.html
I absolutely love the fact that as soon as Jules hears pecans she starts dropping the same facts as Glenn. They seem so perfect for each other. And i love the sweater with the elbow protectors she was rockin.
If you are interested in the way that the Pecan Tree was domesticated in the late 1850s here are a couple of great books that rely on facts rather than mythology: Antoine of Oak Alley, The Unlikely Origin Of Southern Pecans And The Enslaved Man Who Cultivated Them: www.arcadiapublishing.com/products/9781455625758 PECAN - America’s Native Nut Tree By Lenny Wells: tpga.org/product/pecan-americas-native-nut-tree-by-lenny-wells/
very interesting discussion about pecans...just curious...what prompted you to research the subject so thoroughly? geeks like me want to know 😁 the brownies/cookies sound divine...yes, ground oats instead of breadcrumbs...great idea
This is why I love this channel! Glen literally did a 9 minute spiel about the history with a very light touch of ethnobotany sprinkled with socioeconomic implication and a dash of low-key social commentary concerning the domestic product availability evolution of pecans. And then here comes Jules with a nom-nom moment while matter of factly mentioning that the pecan is not a nut but in fact a drupe. ❤️😇
Yum! Years ago I was told by an older lady that you used bread crumbs with pecans to "stretch the pecans" unless you or a neighbor had a pecan tree. I've used graham cracker crumbs instead of bread crumbs with success but I really like the oats idea. Thanks for sharing. Your videos are always enjoyable, educational, and inspiring. That's a triple win for me!
Interesting about Pecan trees being recently "domesticated". My neighborhood was a huge Black Walnut orchard area, until subdivided and built up around 1950. I still have 3 old growth walnut trees. But about 10 years ago, a strange-looking sapling appeared in the yard, and we nurtured it. My arborist ID'ed it as a Pecan. Probably bird- or squirrel-planted... Now, it's getting huge, willow-like branches almost sweeping the ground, and *finally*, last year, started bearing fruit!
I live in Florida but lived in Texas where I grew up with a pecan tree in the yard. Although I can get Georgia pecans I prefer Texas varieties so I have them shipped to me yearly and store in the freezer. Thanks for your show!
ln the texas hill county Pecan trees are every where... i remember going to pick pecans up all over town and on our land. we would send pecans to michigan to grandma and aunts! i wonder if pecan flour would instread of the bread crumbs. They would send maple sugar back.
A search of Ancestry shows that Rev. Edgar Flory got married in 1935 to Beryl Cornell (the Mrs. Edgar Flory credited with the recipe you made) A newspaper article featured in the Times Herald in September of 1938 states that Rev. Flory had been transferred to Indiana. So, that narrows the publication of the cookbook between 1935-1938.
"arsed' ?.... I've never heard this saying before. But I did come across a recipe in Celebrating Appalachia channel. Arse Potato cake, made with black walnuts. Haha. Not related, I just found out. The arse, as used in the recipe, refers to how Irish was pronounced long ago.
When it comes to pecans, the variety of pecan used can make a huge difference. Most commonly available will probably be Stuart or Desirable, which grow well, but are pretty bland. Depending on storage/age, they can also be rancid due to the oil content in the nut. Freshness plays a big part of the flavor of the nuts. Freezing them will keep them fresher longer. If you ever get the chance to buy fresh Elliots, you'll find a superior flavor and higher oil content. Of the 15 varietals we grow, it is hands down my favorite.
We buy the plain native pecan, and keep them in mason jars in the freezer. They have much better flavor than anything else. We get them at Byrd's pecan store (Just up the road from their farm) at the intersection of Mo. 52 and route V in Virginia, MO. They open on October 15, and I think close on December 20.
Ah! I wish Mother and Father were still alive, though they would be more than 110 years of age if they were. They would have interesting stories about where their pecans in the kitchen came from. We all were 'born and raised' in East central Illinois, and while I saw pecan trees growing there (after 1949) and I think they were native, I do not actually know. Loved Glen's information about drupes, including pecans. I'll look at my old church cookbooks with an eye for pecans from now on. Thank you, Glen, Jules and Friends.
i love the weird and amazing history of domestication and agriculture. It really reminds you that our ancestors weren't dumb people since they figured this stuff out.
Rev Edgar Flory appears in newspapers in Grayling, MI up till 1938, and by 1945 he's in New Hampshire. This book or another iteration of the book is from 1937. It is listed with date in the references of the book called "Walnut Pickles and Watermelon Cake, A Century of Michigan Cooking" by Massie and Massie
Thanks for the mini history! I lived in northern Indiana and now I understand why my dad was excited to have a pecan tree succeed, sometimes. He planted it in the late 50’s.
The way we take regional foods for granted is fascinating. Pecan is the state tree of Texas and I've lived my whole life here taking them for granted. My grandparents had them in their backyard. I have one in my backyard. But I'm jealous of that fresh maple syrup/sugar from your yard! Combining these two sounds pretty drool-worthy.
Happy about your culinary success! But your intelligent commentary on pecans and their history is why I keep coming back. This channel surpasses all others with the value and intensity of the knowledge you share. Thank you so much, Glen. - Marilyn
Another fruit tree that couldn’t (and still can’t) be used commercially is the pawpaw. They grow wild in our area but the fruit is so fragile, they never make it to stores. I didn’t have one until about a decade ago (and I’m 75) when I found a few at a farmers market. We’ve planted one in our yard but they need cross pollination - we’re close to some woods so I’m hoping when the tree matures a bit, it will flower and get pollinated from wild-growing pawpaws.
I never knew anything about pecans except that I like them. It did make me think about my grandfather. They lived through the depression and dustbowl era then moved to California from Arkansas in the 1940s. My uncle, who lived with my grandpa, loved pecan trees. He would always plant a pecan tree and my grandpa would promptly pull it up. This was an ongoing theme for years. I always thought it was funny but now I have a different view. Maybe grandpa knew it was difficult to grow a producing pecan tree. This makes me giggle a little to think of my uncle planting a tree and my grandpa pulling it up later. It's hilarious to me but maybe you had to know these characters. LOL
We had a pecan tree in the backyard of our first house in Texas, which dated back to the 1930s. (We lived there in the mid to late 1980s.) Yielded a huge number of pecans. We gave them to everyone, and our family where I grew up in California did not appreciate them at all. What’s worse, they called them PEA-cans. They are such a southern thing that pecan pie was more prevalent at our Thanksgiving table than pumpkin.
I have large pecan tree in my front yard, here in Orlando. It is across from my avocado tree. The squirrels eat all the pecans every year, and will fight over who controls the tree. When there are no pecans to eat they will eat avocados, plenty of of avocados, no fighting necessary. There are some big fat squirrels running around out there!
Lakeland here! I’m surprised you have one, I didn’t think they’d make it this far south….driving down 75 they seem to stop plantation wise around Valdosta so I assumed they couldn’t take the heat here.
Nice to hear one of the correct uses of arse from our Canadian cousin. I couldn't be arsed, which is what I thought when I saw egg whites needing whipped.
Pecans are not the go to snack here in Mexico. Yes you can find them at the grocery store during the holiday season, but not eaten regularly. Like canned pumpkin pie, it makes it difficult for a convenient holiday cooking menu. Always cheering for the channel, Glen. Best wishes from the @mikeinmexico channel.
My childhood experience with my grandparents on both sides was centered around pecans both in south Alabama and Prairie County Arkansas. I would help pick them, crack them, shell them. Both sides had farms with pecan trees, though not enough for anything but family use.
I have a volunteer Pecan tree in my back yard. The fruit nut is small, oily and bitter. The only reason it survives is that I love using the pecan wood for smoking meats. Cheers from California.
I'd be happy to listen to a Pecan history lesson. We have large groves here in Arizona established in the 1920's or so. A quick Google search yielded a publication from NM state university that was very informative. Thanks for the rabbit hole!
A nut is a fruit consisting of a hard or tough nutshell protecting a kernel which is usually edible. In general usage and in a culinary sense, a wide variety of dry seeds are called nuts, but in a botanical context "nut" implies that the shell does not open to release the seed.
Right: most every cookbook has a recipe that jumps out! Whenever I bought a new cookbook, my wife would complain...until I made THAT recipe and a couple of others. I don't know WHY many pecan recipes involve so much sweetening. I would make this with less brown sugar and I would use July's suggestion of oat flour.
My local organic grocery delivery service in Montreal has a partnership with a small pecan farm in Georgia and they blew my Canadian mind with how delicious they are, so much better than the grocery store standard.
This one looks pretty good. I had one from my grandmother ca 1950, all ladies who signed their recipes Mrs. George Last Name. Most of the recipes used canned vegetables and soup and contained jello. lol
So, after a short search of this church on the Internet, the husband (Michelson) donated money (in memory of his wife?) for the rebuilding of the church in 1924 and the pastor officiated at a funeral of one of its members in 1937 (passed from typhoid fever at 35). Found nothing else on this pastor, but since the husband donated money in 1924, this book would have been some time after this since the aid society seemed to have already been existing (for how long?).
Requisite warning: the following are my pecan memories. I grew up on a farm in southwest Georgia and there were 9 large pecan trees around the yard. In the Autumn, I would earn Christmas spending money by picking up pecans to sell to a pecan dealer in Eufaula, Ala. To a 10 year old in the late 1960s, receiving $75 - $100 dollars (in a really good year) was wealth beyond the dreams of avarice, and it really barely qualified as work; I could daydream all I wanted, with no one to nag me. I had to move around on my knees, so the knees of my pants got somewhat damp and dingy, and, once the weather started turning cold, I had to bundle up, but, it was quiet, almost serene in a way. My second memory involves the pecan tree closest to the house; it stood just outside my bedroom window, so, in summer, my room stayed relatively cool. In Autumn, when the pecans began to fall, they would hit the tin roof with a bam and then you could hear them roll down the steep roof until they dropped off the edge. Oh, the things we take for granted, when we are young...
I live in San Antonio, so my go to nut (droop?) are pecans. Love them; prefer over walnuts. We had a pecan tree in our yard at a past house. At the time we planted it, we were told that unless there was another pecan tree in the neighborhood it wouldn't bear fruit. Evidently they need to pollinate each other. Don't recall if there was an issue with have male and female types, but there were several in our neighborhood, so we did get pecans. Lots of pecan trees around here. They all have Indian names for their varieties.
They sound wonderful, i must say breadcrumbs may leave them lacking. Maybe a coarse whole wheat bread? But I'm inclined to go with the ground oats or maybe even spelts as a filler.
Definitely will try this with my keto alternatives, but maybe still use just a bit of maple sugar 😉. Thanks Glen for the interesting info on pecan trees!
SmarterEveryDay had a neat video on pecan harvesting. Great video as always, I'm tempted to give these a try and maybe change the recipe up a bit to make it more brownie-like
Love pecans. I found it interesting that a friend of mine dislikes them, because she finds them bitter, but loves walnuts, which I find bitter. It makes me wonder what compounds there are in the nuts we react to so differently.
I feel the same as you do about pecans vs walnuts. Another problem with walnuts is that they seem to go rancid quickly and a rancid walnut is awesomely bad. (I learned to keep the ones I have for baking in my freezer).
The best tasting pecans I ever ate came from a large pecan tree we had in our backyard in North Central North Carolina when I was a child in the 1960s. Our neighbors had no complaints about the nuts that fell off our large tree into their yard from but they used to complain about the leaves that fell from it and insist that we rake and bag the leaves since they came from our tree. They were a really mean, elderly couple. I could never understand why they could believe they owned the fallen nuts but not the leaves. The couple was know for causing problems in the neighborhood so it was easier for my parents to make my sister and I rake the leaves and let them keep the pecans, even though I knew it was crazy to give into those 2 miserable old people.
The simple answer regarding Pecans is 1) They take 15 plus years to mature and produce if you are lucky. 2) They are prone to every pest you can think of. 3) They need sandy soil, lots of fertilizer and ZINC supplementing. And 4) You need multiple trees relatively close together because they release pollen before the female flowers are mature enough to pollinate. I live in the heart of Almond, Walnut, Peach and Grape orchards and vineyards in Central California. Every few years someone buys an old orchard that isn't producing well and invariably tries growing pecans.
Puts me in mind of an old Australian Women's Weekly recipe we use for "Greek Almond Biscuits" which are basically egg whites, sugar and ground almonds. Sort of chunky macaroons.
The classic drupe nut is almond, which go look at the seeds of any of the larger stonefruit (peach, apricot, nectarine) and almonds in their shell are almost identical to their seeds. Never seen it in person, but I have heard almond fruit are also very similar to those, until they are let dry. Meanwhile, in the subject of nuts, my pet favourite story is the humble bush nut, or bauple nut, also known as the macadamia. I grew up in the town where macadamias were first commercially farmed, a northern NSW regional city named Lismore. The place where I believe it started currently goes by the name of Marquis Macadamias. But it was from that attempt some enterprising businessman thought macadamias could be an idea, and took them to Hawaii, where I believe they are a pretty good crop too, which is understandable since I presume Hawaii has a climate comparable to parts of Queensland.
In the 80's we lived in Alamagordo New Mexico for a year and a half renting a house that had a pecan tree in the back year. I don't know how it arrived there but it wasn't common in the neighborhood... so a bit far afield from the Mississippi river.
I'm not sure which university you did Forestry at, Glen, but now I'm imagining you and Julie in the wood-paneled UBC Forestry building 😁 I love that building, it's like being in an indoor forest🌲
Love the history lesson on pecans. My family has a decent size trees, having a good year this year. Learned so much about the different varieties and tastes of them. I wonder what a dried or smoked pecan shaved like a nutmeg would taste like?! If you ever want any pecans I’ll send them, just let me know! Would also love to hear all these research projects you work on.
Glen, do you have any recipes - probably from the pre-domesticaton period or outside the pecan's native range - that call specifically for nuts, err, drupes, from the other members of the hickory genus? (Much larger native range to work with there.) We sometimes gather a small amount for a delicious wild foraged thanksgiving treat even though they're small and difficult to crack.
Most early recipes here in North America, just call for 'nut meats'. No specifics, just use what you have access to. There are some regional recipe books that do call out the specific nut from that region, but those same recipes are more generic outside the region.
Need a favour, Glen and Friends. As growing season in Southern Ontario comes to an end, i have a lot of green tomatoes. left. Is anyone doing Green Tomato Relish ?
My grandmother from Nova Scotia made a great green tomato chow, which I assume would be considered a relish, although I am not sure. Either way, it was a delicious way to get rid of green tomatoes. I remember all of us in the kitchen preparing it and then canning it. If we didn't have enough green tomatoes from the garden we would go to the place where you could pick your own tomatoes.
everything you say is true about pecans however here is west texas ( el paso ) s. NM we do grow pecans for commercial use --- this would be along the rio grande etc
I’m having flashbacks to when Laurie metcalf was on 3rd rock from the sun… “a peanut is neither a pea nor a nut… it’s a legume…” I was thinking this is great recipe… perhaps swapping the breadcrumbs for coconut flour? Or mixing sone in… these sound really good
Louisiana here. And I can't find a pecan. A real pecan with a shell. Of course they're here somewhere but I haven't found them. A farmer's market didn't have them. They did have all the other popular nut varies in a shell. I have come to the conclusion, just has to be, that pecan growers/farmers are not taking them to farmers markets, instead are selling their crops to companies that package the nut meats. They reach grocery stores and then sold to us. I'm really disappointed because I wanted a bowl full of nuts, whole nuts, to display as part of my holiday decor. Whole nuts are all I knew as a kid. We cracked our own pecans. No packaged pecans back then. Well, I have my bowl of nuts but without the pecans.
I'm new to baking but would love to try making this. You mentioned using ground oats instead of bread crumbs and I'm curious what type of oats do you recommend?
The author of that particular recipe might have been a GA lady who moved north, that would explain why she used maple flavoring. Down here in pecan territory, real maple anything is harder to find and expensive. So your cookbook could be older.
I’m kinda interested in a 40-minute talk about the history of pecans (with graphs). I do love pecans!
Glenn! How many likes does this comment need to make it a reality? Give us a goal!
please do
I’d enjoy such a mini documentary.
Me too!
Although not a deep dive into pecans. TH-camr "SmarterEveryDay" did a segment on harvesting pecans a couple of years ago.
th-cam.com/video/aK5AnViPkJ0/w-d-xo.html
I always enjoy hearing about the history of a recipe or an ingredient. Thanks.
I think I enjoyed the culinary history lesson, more than the recipe itself. Which was good. Keep up the great work.
I absolutely love the fact that as soon as Jules hears pecans she starts dropping the same facts as Glenn. They seem so perfect for each other.
And i love the sweater with the elbow protectors she was rockin.
If you are interested in the way that the Pecan Tree was domesticated in the late 1850s here are a couple of great books that rely on facts rather than mythology:
Antoine of Oak Alley, The Unlikely Origin Of Southern Pecans And The Enslaved Man Who Cultivated Them: www.arcadiapublishing.com/products/9781455625758
PECAN - America’s Native Nut Tree By Lenny Wells: tpga.org/product/pecan-americas-native-nut-tree-by-lenny-wells/
very interesting discussion about pecans...just curious...what prompted you to research the subject so thoroughly? geeks like me want to know 😁 the brownies/cookies sound divine...yes, ground oats instead of breadcrumbs...great idea
Thanks for the titles! I am adding to my reading list!
@@rabidsamfan: Me, too!
This is why I love this channel!
Glen literally did a 9 minute spiel about the history with a very light touch of ethnobotany sprinkled with socioeconomic implication and a dash of low-key social commentary concerning the domestic product availability evolution of pecans. And then here comes Jules with a nom-nom moment while matter of factly mentioning that the pecan is not a nut but in fact a drupe.
❤️😇
Yum! Years ago I was told by an older lady that you used bread crumbs with pecans to "stretch the pecans" unless you or a neighbor had a pecan tree. I've used graham cracker crumbs instead of bread crumbs with success but I really like the oats idea. Thanks for sharing. Your videos are always enjoyable, educational, and inspiring. That's a triple win for me!
Yeah, with how sweet this recipe already is, I wouldn't want to substitute Graham cracker crumbs in this recipe. Holy sugar bomb 💣😅
Graham crackers would be great 🎉
How do graham cracker crumbs taste baked in cookies? If I used graham cracker crumbs, I'd cut down on the brown sugar on these.
Glad I live on the Gulf Coast. Plentiful here.
Love the history as much as the recipe
Interesting about Pecan trees being recently "domesticated". My neighborhood was a huge Black Walnut orchard area, until subdivided and built up around 1950. I still have 3 old growth walnut trees. But about 10 years ago, a strange-looking sapling appeared in the yard, and we nurtured it. My arborist ID'ed it as a Pecan. Probably bird- or squirrel-planted...
Now, it's getting huge, willow-like branches almost sweeping the ground, and *finally*, last year, started bearing fruit!
Omg,I am so jealous. I grew up on old-growth black walnuts and hickory nuts from my grandparents' farm. Miss them sooo much.
Lucky you !!
I live in Florida but lived in Texas where I grew up with a pecan tree in the yard. Although I can get Georgia pecans I prefer Texas varieties so I have them shipped to me yearly and store in the freezer. Thanks for your show!
ln the texas hill county Pecan trees are every where... i remember going to pick pecans up all over town and on our land. we would send pecans to michigan to grandma and aunts! i wonder if pecan flour would instread of the bread crumbs. They would send maple sugar back.
That has to be one of the most immediate and emphatic 'Yum' reactions from Julie I've seen on this channel!
I love Glen and Friends with my morning coffee on a Sunday morning. Maybe I'll make cookies today???!!!✌️❤😁
A search of Ancestry shows that Rev. Edgar Flory got married in 1935 to Beryl Cornell (the Mrs. Edgar Flory credited with the recipe you made) A newspaper article featured in the Times Herald in September of 1938 states that Rev. Flory had been transferred to Indiana. So, that narrows the publication of the cookbook between 1935-1938.
These look delicious! And I love that you used the phrase, "I couldn't be arsed"...it's one of my favourites.
"arsed' ?.... I've never heard this saying before. But I did come across a recipe in Celebrating Appalachia channel. Arse Potato cake, made with black walnuts. Haha. Not related, I just found out. The arse, as used in the recipe, refers to how Irish was pronounced long ago.
Thank you for sharing Glen. We are also thankful for all our best producing pecan trees planted by squirrels.
I could listen to glen talk about culinary history for hours
Oh, how I'd love to have a pecan tree right outside my door again.❤ Thank you, Glen and Jules. I have learned a new word: drupe😂❤😊
Love pecans, and yes, we have pecan trees. Thanks for the history. Have a blessed day 💖✝
When it comes to pecans, the variety of pecan used can make a huge difference. Most commonly available will probably be Stuart or Desirable, which grow well, but are pretty bland. Depending on storage/age, they can also be rancid due to the oil content in the nut. Freshness plays a big part of the flavor of the nuts. Freezing them will keep them fresher longer. If you ever get the chance to buy fresh Elliots, you'll find a superior flavor and higher oil content. Of the 15 varietals we grow, it is hands down my favorite.
We buy the plain native pecan, and keep them in mason jars in the freezer. They have much better flavor than anything else. We get them at Byrd's pecan store (Just up the road from their farm) at the intersection of Mo. 52 and route V in Virginia, MO. They open on October 15, and I think close on December 20.
Ah! I wish Mother and Father were still alive, though they would be more than 110 years of age if they were. They would have interesting stories about where their pecans in the kitchen came from. We all were 'born and raised' in East central Illinois, and while I saw pecan trees growing there (after 1949) and I think they were native, I do not actually know. Loved Glen's information about drupes, including pecans. I'll look at my old church cookbooks with an eye for pecans from now on. Thank you, Glen, Jules and Friends.
Thanks Glen I have a much greater appreciation for Pecans now..I do love them
i love the weird and amazing history of domestication and agriculture. It really reminds you that our ancestors weren't dumb people since they figured this stuff out.
You two are just perfect together. Glens face when Julie brought up "not nuts, drupes". 😆 my wife said you all are just "two drupes in a a shell".
You know it's good when Jules says, 'I'm trying hard not to have another one'! lol I'm intrigued!
Rev Edgar Flory appears in newspapers in Grayling, MI up till 1938, and by 1945 he's in New Hampshire. This book or another iteration of the book is from 1937. It is listed with date in the references of the book called "Walnut Pickles and Watermelon Cake, A Century of Michigan Cooking" by Massie and Massie
lets hear it for stains on the page!
Thanks for the mini history! I lived in northern Indiana and now I understand why my dad was excited to have a pecan tree succeed, sometimes. He planted it in the late 50’s.
The way we take regional foods for granted is fascinating. Pecan is the state tree of Texas and I've lived my whole life here taking them for granted. My grandparents had them in their backyard. I have one in my backyard. But I'm jealous of that fresh maple syrup/sugar from your yard! Combining these two sounds pretty drool-worthy.
Happy about your culinary success! But your intelligent commentary on pecans and their history is why I keep coming back. This channel surpasses all others with the value and intensity of the knowledge you share. Thank you so much, Glen. - Marilyn
So much fun! My kids won’t eat nuts (or things they think of as nuts) so if I made these I could claim them for myself! Sounds dangerous 😈
Another fruit tree that couldn’t (and still can’t) be used commercially is the pawpaw. They grow wild in our area but the fruit is so fragile, they never make it to stores. I didn’t have one until about a decade ago (and I’m 75) when I found a few at a farmers market. We’ve planted one in our yard but they need cross pollination - we’re close to some woods so I’m hoping when the tree matures a bit, it will flower and get pollinated from wild-growing pawpaws.
Loved the lesson on pecans. Those look quite tasty
These look amazing!! I love maple and pecans, woo hoo!
I never knew anything about pecans except that I like them. It did make me think about my grandfather. They lived through the depression and dustbowl era then moved to California from Arkansas in the 1940s. My uncle, who lived with my grandpa, loved pecan trees. He would always plant a pecan tree and my grandpa would promptly pull it up. This was an ongoing theme for years. I always thought it was funny but now I have a different view. Maybe grandpa knew it was difficult to grow a producing pecan tree. This makes me giggle a little to think of my uncle planting a tree and my grandpa pulling it up later. It's hilarious to me but maybe you had to know these characters. LOL
Fascinating! I adore pecans and had no idea they haven’t been plentiful forever. Thanks Glen!
Parchment is the best! I find it improves the texture of everything I bake on it and saves on clean up.
My husband always uses parchment paper and now I do too - never have to worry about things sticking, and yes so much easier to clean!
We had a pecan tree in the backyard of our first house in Texas, which dated back to the 1930s. (We lived there in the mid to late 1980s.) Yielded a huge number of pecans. We gave them to everyone, and our family where I grew up in California did not appreciate them at all. What’s worse, they called them PEA-cans. They are such a southern thing that pecan pie was more prevalent at our Thanksgiving table than pumpkin.
I have large pecan tree in my front yard, here in Orlando. It is across from my avocado tree. The squirrels eat all the pecans every year, and will fight over who controls the tree. When there are no pecans to eat they will eat avocados, plenty of of avocados, no fighting necessary. There are some big fat squirrels running around out there!
😂
Lakeland here! I’m surprised you have one, I didn’t think they’d make it this far south….driving down 75 they seem to stop plantation wise around Valdosta so I assumed they couldn’t take the heat here.
Nice to hear one of the correct uses of arse from our Canadian cousin. I couldn't be arsed, which is what I thought when I saw egg whites needing whipped.
How interesting about the pecan history. As usual, great content here! Thanks!
Pecans are not the go to snack here in Mexico. Yes you can find them at the grocery store during the holiday season, but not eaten regularly. Like canned pumpkin pie, it makes it difficult for a convenient holiday cooking menu. Always cheering for the channel, Glen. Best wishes from the @mikeinmexico channel.
You have canned pumpkin pie?
I live in New Mexico, and we have pecans everywhere. It's one of the main corps in the state.
Lucky you. Here in Mexico City Mexico, they are less common.
Love this recipe. It has become a standard in our house. Specially great for my sister who is gluten intolerant. Thank you for sharing!
My childhood experience with my grandparents on both sides was centered around pecans both in south Alabama and Prairie County Arkansas. I would help pick them, crack them, shell them. Both sides had farms with pecan trees, though not enough for anything but family use.
Yum😋
I make something similar that is essentially whipped egg whites, powdered sugar, & nut meal. (Walnut Dacquoise from Martha Stewart.)
I have a volunteer Pecan tree in my back yard. The fruit nut is small, oily and bitter. The only reason it survives is that I love using the pecan wood for smoking meats.
Cheers from California.
I'd be happy to listen to a Pecan history lesson. We have large groves here in Arizona established in the 1920's or so. A quick Google search yielded a publication from NM state university that was very informative.
Thanks for the rabbit hole!
These look delicious! Something I would absolutely try.
A nut is a fruit consisting of a hard or tough nutshell protecting a kernel which is usually edible. In general usage and in a culinary sense, a wide variety of dry seeds are called nuts, but in a botanical context "nut" implies that the shell does not open to release the seed.
Looks amazing! And fun as always.
Thank you for the history lesson on pecans. Our trees came into production this year and we will be trying this recipe!
love your show and what you do
Interesting info on pecans. Thank you!
So glad to hear you pronounce "pecan" correctly.
Whenever I see the copper bowl, I know some egg whites are going to be involved!
Right: most every cookbook has a recipe that jumps out! Whenever I bought a new cookbook, my wife would complain...until I made THAT recipe and a couple of others. I don't know WHY many pecan recipes involve so much sweetening. I would make this with less brown sugar and I would use July's suggestion of oat flour.
My local organic grocery delivery service in Montreal has a partnership with a small pecan farm in Georgia and they blew my Canadian mind with how delicious they are, so much better than the grocery store standard.
These are delicious! Perfect addition to your holiday candies and goodies. I've tried them with other flavorings, but nothing beats the Maple.
This one looks pretty good. I had one from my grandmother ca 1950, all ladies who signed their recipes Mrs. George Last Name. Most of the recipes used canned vegetables and soup and contained jello. lol
So interesting that pecan are like apples, in that the best ones are from grafted trees. 🇨🇦💕
So, after a short search of this church on the Internet, the husband (Michelson) donated money (in memory of his wife?) for the rebuilding of the church in 1924 and the pastor officiated at a funeral of one of its members in 1937 (passed from typhoid fever at 35). Found nothing else on this pastor, but since the husband donated money in 1924, this book would have been some time after this since the aid society seemed to have already been existing (for how long?).
The sweetest apple I ever ate was from the only apple tree on my grandfather's' farm. They were small but loaded with flavor - and worms.
Requisite warning: the following are my pecan memories. I grew up on a farm in southwest Georgia and there were 9 large pecan trees around the yard. In the Autumn, I would earn Christmas spending money by picking up pecans to sell to a pecan dealer in Eufaula, Ala. To a 10 year old in the late 1960s, receiving $75 - $100 dollars (in a really good year) was wealth beyond the dreams of avarice, and it really barely qualified as work; I could daydream all I wanted, with no one to nag me. I had to move around on my knees, so the knees of my pants got somewhat damp and dingy, and, once the weather started turning cold, I had to bundle up, but, it was quiet, almost serene in a way. My second memory involves the pecan tree closest to the house; it stood just outside my bedroom window, so, in summer, my room stayed relatively cool. In Autumn, when the pecans began to fall, they would hit the tin roof with a bam and then you could hear them roll down the steep roof until they dropped off the edge. Oh, the things we take for granted, when we are young...
I live in San Antonio, so my go to nut (droop?) are pecans. Love them; prefer over walnuts. We had a pecan tree in our yard at a past house. At the time we planted it, we were told that unless there was another pecan tree in the neighborhood it wouldn't bear fruit. Evidently they need to pollinate each other. Don't recall if there was an issue with have male and female types, but there were several in our neighborhood, so we did get pecans. Lots of pecan trees around here. They all have Indian names for their varieties.
Grind up double the amount of pecans or use ground almonds to sub the breadcrumbs.
They sound wonderful, i must say breadcrumbs may leave them lacking. Maybe a coarse whole wheat bread? But I'm inclined to go with the ground oats or maybe even spelts as a filler.
Yep. I'll try this with ground oats. Always looking for gluten free recipes.
Definitely will try this with my keto alternatives, but maybe still use just a bit of maple sugar 😉. Thanks Glen for the interesting info on pecan trees!
@dianeb95 there are keto maple flavorings out there.
Somebody playing for my team. I wish there was a way you could share a recipe. I’m cooking some up right now but it doesn’t look promising yet
Looks yummy!
SmarterEveryDay had a neat video on pecan harvesting. Great video as always, I'm tempted to give these a try and maybe change the recipe up a bit to make it more brownie-like
Love pecans. I found it interesting that a friend of mine dislikes them, because she finds them bitter, but loves walnuts, which I find bitter. It makes me wonder what compounds there are in the nuts we react to so differently.
Some of that is because we all have different taste buds. It's why some people love cilantro, and other people think it tastes like soap.
I feel the same as you do about pecans vs walnuts. Another problem with walnuts is that they seem to go rancid quickly and a rancid walnut is awesomely bad. (I learned to keep the ones I have for baking in my freezer).
The stains on the page indicate deliciousness
The best tasting pecans I ever ate came from a large pecan tree we had in our backyard in North Central North Carolina when I was a child in the 1960s. Our neighbors had no complaints about the nuts that fell off our large tree into their yard from but they used to complain about the leaves that fell from it and insist that we rake and bag the leaves since they came from our tree. They were a really mean, elderly couple. I could never understand why they could believe they owned the fallen nuts but not the leaves. The couple was know for causing problems in the neighborhood so it was easier for my parents to make my sister and I rake the leaves and let them keep the pecans, even though I knew it was crazy to give into those 2 miserable old people.
The simple answer regarding Pecans is 1) They take 15 plus years to mature and produce if you are lucky. 2) They are prone to every pest you can think of. 3) They need sandy soil, lots of fertilizer and ZINC supplementing. And 4) You need multiple trees relatively close together because they release pollen before the female flowers are mature enough to pollinate.
I live in the heart of Almond, Walnut, Peach and Grape orchards and vineyards in Central California. Every few years someone buys an old orchard that isn't producing well and invariably tries growing pecans.
Puts me in mind of an old Australian Women's Weekly recipe we use for "Greek Almond Biscuits" which are basically egg whites, sugar and ground almonds.
Sort of chunky macaroons.
I love your program and how you explore older forgotten recipes. Thank you!!! PS how do you make maple sugar?
He has a recipe video of him making Maple Sugar from, I believe, 2021 or 2022. Really interesting process!
Here's how we make it: th-cam.com/video/cfZxs0rBffY/w-d-xo.html
The classic drupe nut is almond, which go look at the seeds of any of the larger stonefruit (peach, apricot, nectarine) and almonds in their shell are almost identical to their seeds. Never seen it in person, but I have heard almond fruit are also very similar to those, until they are let dry.
Meanwhile, in the subject of nuts, my pet favourite story is the humble bush nut, or bauple nut, also known as the macadamia. I grew up in the town where macadamias were first commercially farmed, a northern NSW regional city named Lismore. The place where I believe it started currently goes by the name of Marquis Macadamias.
But it was from that attempt some enterprising businessman thought macadamias could be an idea, and took them to Hawaii, where I believe they are a pretty good crop too, which is understandable since I presume Hawaii has a climate comparable to parts of Queensland.
In the 80's we lived in Alamagordo New Mexico for a year and a half renting a house that had a pecan tree in the back year. I don't know how it arrived there but it wasn't common in the neighborhood... so a bit far afield from the Mississippi river.
I wonder who planted it?
my great great great grandfather had a pecan tree
I'm not sure which university you did Forestry at, Glen, but now I'm imagining you and Julie in the wood-paneled UBC Forestry building 😁 I love that building, it's like being in an indoor forest🌲
Love the history lesson on pecans. My family has a decent size trees, having a good year this year. Learned so much about the different varieties and tastes of them. I wonder what a dried or smoked pecan shaved like a nutmeg would taste like?! If you ever want any pecans I’ll send them, just let me know! Would also love to hear all these research projects you work on.
Growing up in Idaho we had walnuts rare almonds and no pecans till 1980s
No faces 'drooped' in the eating of these brownies.
Booo
i think these would be perfect with the addition of chopped dates or raisins in them.
Glen have you ever done Beaver Tails from Ottawa? They seem like the elephant ears we get at the fair in the US.
My kids love them when they go skating on the Rideau Canal.
I have a pecan tree in my backyard but mostly the squirrels eat it.
I may not /need/ to hear a 40 minute talk with charts and graphs on pecan trees, but I would very much /like/ to hear you guys speak to it.
Glen, do you have any recipes - probably from the pre-domesticaton period or outside the pecan's native range - that call specifically for nuts, err, drupes, from the other members of the hickory genus? (Much larger native range to work with there.) We sometimes gather a small amount for a delicious wild foraged thanksgiving treat even though they're small and difficult to crack.
Most early recipes here in North America, just call for 'nut meats'. No specifics, just use what you have access to. There are some regional recipe books that do call out the specific nut from that region, but those same recipes are more generic outside the region.
That's more or less what I expected given the time period but I was still curious. Thanks for the reply!
Need a favour, Glen and Friends. As growing season in Southern Ontario comes to an end, i have a lot of green tomatoes. left. Is anyone doing Green Tomato Relish ?
My grandmother from Nova Scotia made a great green tomato chow, which I assume would be considered a relish, although I am not sure. Either way, it was a delicious way to get rid of green tomatoes. I remember all of us in the kitchen preparing it and then canning it. If we didn't have enough green tomatoes from the garden we would go to the place where you could pick your own tomatoes.
I bet you could stretch pecans in some recipes by using Grape Nuts cereal. I'm going to try it!
I have hazelnuts!😳Time to experiment!💪🏻😂🤪✌🏻
Hickory nuts are a good substitute for pecans / they are related and they taste as good...hard to shell
Wow ! I could make that gluten free with those oats.
everything you say is true about pecans however here is west texas ( el paso ) s. NM we do grow pecans for commercial use --- this would be along the rio grande etc
I’m having flashbacks to when Laurie metcalf was on 3rd rock from the sun… “a peanut is neither a pea nor a nut… it’s a legume…” I was thinking this is great recipe… perhaps swapping the breadcrumbs for coconut flour? Or mixing sone in… these sound really good
Louisiana here. And I can't find a pecan. A real pecan with a shell. Of course they're here somewhere but I haven't found them. A farmer's market didn't have them. They did have all the other popular nut varies in a shell. I have come to the conclusion, just has to be, that pecan growers/farmers are not taking them to farmers markets, instead are selling their crops to companies that package the nut meats. They reach grocery stores and then sold to us. I'm really disappointed because I wanted a bowl full of nuts, whole nuts, to display as part of my holiday decor. Whole nuts are all I knew as a kid. We cracked our own pecans. No packaged pecans back then. Well, I have my bowl of nuts but without the pecans.
I'm new to baking but would love to try making this. You mentioned using ground oats instead of bread crumbs and I'm curious what type of oats do you recommend?
Rolled oats, either old-fashion or quick oats with a light whiz in a blender or food processor.
@@jjudy5869 thank you!
This reminds me of a Pecan Sandie, I wonder if this was a precursor to them.
Bulk barn would most likely have maple flavoring.
The author of that particular recipe might have been a GA lady who moved north, that would explain why she used maple flavoring. Down here in pecan territory, real maple anything is harder to find and expensive. So your cookbook could be older.
! graphs and charts!