Today's food holiday: "National Pecan Day"!

April 14th is "National Pecan Day"!
Not to be confused with "Pecan Day" which was March 25th, National Pecan Month (April) or "National Pecan Pie Day" which is July 12th.

The name "pecan" is a Native American word of Algonquin origin that was used to describe "a nut requiring a stone to crack.” The pecan is the only nut indigenous to North America. It is estimated that in the 1500’s, Native Americans utilized and cultivated wild pecans. It is speculated that pecans were used to produce a fermented intoxicating drink called "Powcohicora" (where the word "hickory" comes from). There are over 1,000 varieties of pecans.  Many are named for Native American Indian tribes, including Cheyenne, Mohawk, Sioux, Choctaw and Shawnee.

Why April 14th? George Washington planted pecan nuts several times at Mount Vernon in an effort to grow trees. He also received pecan seedlings from Thomas Jefferson in 1794. Thomas Jefferson gave "Illinois nuts" (Pecans, Carya illinoinensis) from his nut orchard at his home in Monticello, Va., to George Washington. It is believed that on April 14th (and/or March 25th), Washington planted the trees at Mount Vernon, VA. (Side note: The pecan tree in the photo was estimated to be 140 years old and this tree does not date to Washington’s lifetime and was probably planted in the 1860s.  It was removed on Monday, March 1, 2004, in order to protect George Washington’s home. The tree, irreparably damaged during Hurricane Isabel last fall, stands 140 feet tall and is one of two towering pecan trees located within a precarious 115 feet of the Mansion.)

Washington and Jefferson's pecans were not the first, as they were cultivated by Native Americans and were a favorite of pre-colonial residents. It is one of the first known cultivated pecan tree plantings, by Spanish colonists and Franciscans in northern Mexico, appears to have taken place in the late 1600’s or early 1700’s. These plantings are documented to around 1711—about 60 years before the first recorded planting by U.S. colonists. 

One of the most common desserts with the pecan as a central ingredient is the pecan pie, a traditional southern U.S. recipe. Pecans are also a major ingredient in praline candy, most often associated with New Orleans. In addition to the pecan nut, the wood is also used in making furniture, in wood flooring, as well as flavoring fuel for smoking meats.

In the United States, pecans are second in popularity only to peanuts (which are not even true nuts). The United States produces about eighty percent of the world's pecans. Albany, Georgia, which boasts more than 600,000 pecan trees, is the pecan capital of the U.S.  Many southern states host annual National Pecan Festivals, usually in the Fall. In 1919 the 36th Texas Legislature made the pecan tree the state tree of Texas. In southeast Texas, the Texas Pecan Festival is celebrated every year. In 1906 then Texas Governor James Stephen Hogg asked that a pecan tree be planted at his grave instead of a traditional headstone, requesting that the nuts be distributed throughout the state to make Texas a "Land of Trees"

Pecans are a good source of protein and unsaturated fats and help reduce high cholesterol. Like walnuts (which pecans resemble), pecans are rich in omega-6 fatty acids, although pecans contain about half as much omega-6 as walnuts. A diet rich in nuts can lower the risk of gallstones in women and eating pecans daily may delay age-related muscle nerve degeneration.

(Source: Wikipedia, foodcreate.com, mountvernon.org, ilovepecans.org & news.yahoo.com; photo credit: pecan in cracked shell, sandy creek pecans.wordpress.com; Fall pecan tree at Mt. Vernon, voices.washingtonpost.com; Winter pecan tree and Mount Vernon by zachstern, flickriver.com; pecan pie, allpierecipes.com; Pecans with and without shells, US Department of Agriculture, Wikipedia)