March 25th is National Pecan Day. In February, when we were in Green Valley, south of Tucson, we drove by orchards of enormous, dead-looking trees. We found out later they were deciduous pecan trees. The pecan is the only nut tree native to North America. Their natural range looks like this:
The top pecan producing state is Georgia, but they're grown in other places too, like New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Arizona. The United Sates produces 95% of the world supply from about 10 million trees. China now consumes more than a third of the supply. Prior to 2001, they didn't know what a pecan was in China. Now they're crazy about them.
This year a pecan shortage is driving up the price due to demand, bad weather and believe it or not, feral pigs, which have become quite a problem in some areas.
The trees can grow to 170 feet, so pruning (called hedging) is a major operation with heavy equipment. They can live almost 300 years.
In the desert pecan trees are irrigation hogs, and the orchards are literally flooded with water.
Pecans contain plant sterols, and eating a handful of pecans each day may help lower
cholesterol levels as well as cholesterol-lowering medications. And pecan pie tastes a lot better than a pill.
Happy Pecan Day!
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