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Thanksgiving Pie

© Joy Butler

Thanksgiving tables everywhere will soon groan under extravagant holiday spreads. Most of these festive meals will include pies of various kinds. A traditional favorite is the sweet and luscious pecan pie but few people ever consider the background of the hard-shelled nut they enjoy so much.

Pecan trees are native to North America and were an important part of the native American diet. In fact, the name, pecan, comes from the Algonquian Indian word, 'peccan', meaning "hard-shelled nut". Pecan trees grew plentifully but when European settlers came, they chopped many of them down. By 1900, pecan trees were scarce. Texas Governor James Hogg loved the stately trees so much that, in 1919, he helped to increase interest in cultivating them by naming them the Texas state tree. A pecan tree is now planted at his gravesite, by his request, "Let my children plant at the head of my grave a pecan tree and at my feet an old-fashioned walnut tree. And when these trees shall bear, let the pecans and walnuts be given out among the plain people of Texas so they may plant them and make Texas a land of trees."

Pecan trees, again, grow wild, reaching 130 feet into the sky of almost every Texas county and spreading their roots into the fertile bottom soil of almost every Texas river. Another 40,000 acres are managed commercially. Producing 70 million pounds of pecans in 2001, Texas ranks as the nation's largest producer of pecans.

A good source of potassium, zinc, thiamine, copper, magnesium, phosphorous, niacin, folic acid, iron, vitamin B6, fiber and healthful fats, pecans not only add exceptional flavor to many foods, they provide exceptional nutrition in a tiny package. A scientific study on the health benefits of pecans was published in the March 2000 Journal of the American Dietetic Association. Researchers have found that by eating pecans daily, one can lower their LDL cholesterol level. And while the meaty part of the nut is used in cookies, cakes, candies and pies as well as salads, side dishes, pancakes and cereals, the shells are used as filler in plastic and veneer wood, and pecan wood is used in furniture, flooring, firewood and even baseball bats.

When buying pecans, shoppers should look for nuts that are heavy for their size, without holes or cracks and do not rattle. Because of their high oil content, they can easily become rancid. Pecans stored in the shell remain fresh up to 3 months, but shelled nuts can be sealed and refrigerated or frozen.

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