Each year, April 14 is celebrated as “National Pecan Day” in recognition of the deciduous tree native to the Southern United States. The pecan is genetically a species of hickory and mostly cultivated for its seeds, aka pecans. It’s the state tree of Texas and the state nut of Alabama, Arkansas, California, Texas, and Louisiana!
Technically, a pecan, like the fruit of all other members of the hickory genus, is not truly a nut, but is technically a drupe, a fruit with a single stone or pit, surrounded by a husk. Interestingly, pecans are also one of the most recently domesticated of the major food crops. Although wild pecans were well known among native and colonial Americans as a delicacy, the commercial growth of pecans in the United States did not begin until the 1880s.
The U.S. is the leading producer of pecans accounting for about 80% of global supplies, of which close to 30% is exported. In 2024, USDA estimates total production at nearly 271 million pounds, led by Georgia with 99 million pounds, followed closely by New Mexico at 91 million. Arizona turned out 37 million pounds while Texas contributed around 29 million.
Pecan production for 2024 is down substantially from 2023 when output topped more than 306.7 million pounds. This is largely thanks to Hurricane Helene that struck the Southeast in late September 2024. Pecan farmers in Georgia took a serious hit with some losing 100% of their trees and more than a third of total bearing acreage were damaged or destroyed.
University of Georgia called the storm “absolutely devastating” for the pecan industry and “by far, the worst we have experienced,” exceeding damage from Hurricane Michael (that exceeded $2 billion for agriculture) six years ago that up to now, had been the most devastating storm on record in Georgia. Trees of 40 to 50 years old were blown down, the university said, with about 23% of Georgia’s pecan acreage affected.
New pecan trees take five to six years to reach production, and about 10 years to reach full nut bearing capacity, according to the University of Georgia. While replanting will allow growers to replace older varieties with newer varieties, years of lost production, along with the cost of replanting, will weigh heavily on the Georgia pecan industry. We wish all the growers out there the best of luck with the recovery.
On a more positive note, here are some fun facts about the pecan:
- When Spanish explorers discovered them in the 16th Century, they named them “nuez de larruga” which means “wrinkle nut.”
- The word “pecan” derives from an Algonquian word variously referring to pecans, walnuts, and hickory nuts.
- Pronunciation of “pecan” is a touchy subject and there’s little agreement on the “correct” way to say it, even regionally. But according to the National Pecan Growers Association, who decided to end the debate once and for all in 1927, it is pronounced “as though spelled pea-con.”
- There are over 1,000 varieties of pecans. Many are named for Native American Indian tribes, including Cheyenne, Mohawk, Sioux, Choctaw and Shawnee.
- Every pecan pie used 1/2 to 3/4 pounds of nuts, or around 78 pecans.
- Pecans contain the most antioxidant capacity of any other nut.
- One cup of pecans has slightly more protein than an ounce of chicken.
- U.S. Presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson loved pecans and both grew the trees on their properties.
- Jefferson asked friends to send him pecans in 1787 while in France on his goodwill tour. But he didn’t want them for eating – they were for planting. Pecan trees of more than 230 years old can still be found in a few locations in France, some believed to have been planted by Jefferson himself!
