Pecan

The Pecan is a delicious nut, similar to walnut, but tasting slightly sweeter. By 1500, the original inhabitants of America, the Indians, ate an abundance of pecans. The nameless trees grew in the wild. The Spaniards called the pecan a ‘kind of walnut’, whereas the French named the nut ‘la pacaniere’.White settlers in the American Southwest soon discovered the pecan trees and got acquainted with its delicious and nutritious nuts.

The pecan tree grows in a limited number of countries. While Israel has taken up production, South Africa is on its way to do so. Although there were many old orchards in South Africa, many young trees were planted. South Africa now provides a crop volume sufficient for export. Mexico has pecans and Australia plays a modest role but the U.S.A is by far the largest and most important producer. According to experts, the wild pecan tastes more subtly than the cultivated one and it also smaller. Like the walnut, the pecan has a green outer shell, which will open when the fruit is ripe and the brown nut appears.