Photo by Ruby Jung. All rights reserved.

Pecans

The Pecan is one of our tastiest and most reliably prolific nut trees.

These large, handsome trees are most reliably found by traveling the well-cultivated flood plains of our large rivers. While most of the original forest cover was destroyed to create the fields that now feed us a few trees were spared the axe because of their food value, so if you spot a large tree alone in or along a soybean or cornfield field you can pretty much bet that it's a Pecan.

Photo by Ruby Jung. All rights reserved.

Present-day farmers who preserve Pecan trees in tilled fields are continuing a long tradition that began with the first fields cleared by aboriginal farmers. By clearing away competing trees and shrubs the surviving Pecans increased their canopy size and yield significantly. And while corn and squash harvests might fail occasionally the Pecans were reliable producers of protein rich nuts year in and year out that significantly enhanced the diets of these first American agriculturalists.

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