The Ultimate Pecan Pie Page

HISTORY | TIPS | RECIPES | LINKS

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History
The French created the PECAN PIE (and pecan pralines) after they settled in New Orleans and were introduced to the pecan by Native Americans. Small villages of the Quinipissa and Tangipahoa peoples were located in the vicinity of present-day New Orleans when the site was first visited by an European explorer, the Frenchman Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle, in 1682. Subsequently, in 1699 another French explorer, Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, sieur de Bienville, recognized the importance of the location and established a settlement in 1718 after he had become governor of the Louisiana Territory. He named it Nouvelle Orléans, for the duc d'Orléans, regent of France.

Pecans have their origins in prehistory. The discovery of fossil remains along with millions of native pecan trees found along most major streams and irrigation canals in Texas and the northern part of Mexico indicate that this is the original home of the pecan and that it spread north and east from this area. This also indicates that the pecan was here and producing long before Native Americans came on the scene. The earliest recorded writings on the pecan by Cabeza de Vaca nearly 600 years ago chronicle that Native Americans planned their movements and activities around the maturity of the pecan, or "pacane" which is a Native American word of Algonquin origin meaning "nut to be cracked with a rock." The Native Americans concentrated in the river valleys in the fall to harvest pecans and depended on the pecan as their major food resource for about 4 months of the year. The first successful grafts of the pecan tree were done in 1846 by a Louisiana plantation gardener, a slave named Antoine. More History

The nut-bearing pecan tree, Carya Illinoinensis, of the walnut family, is classified botanically as a species of hickory native to North America. Pecan is distinguished from other hickories by its thin-shelled nuts with sweet kernels. Nuts are typically elliptic to oblong in shape, round in cross-section, and have smooth, brown shells with prominent black markings, especially near the apex, and vary in weight from 25 to 100 to the pound. The tallest and fastest growing of the hickories, pecan trees may reach a height of 75-100 ft. and grow wild in river bottoms from Iowa and Indiana southwest into Texas and Mexico and are grown commercially and bred for thinness of shell. Nutritionally, Pecans are a good source of potassium, thiamine, zinc, copper, magnesium, phosphorous, niacin, folic acid, iron, and vitamin B6, and also a good source of fiber. Its fats are composed of 87% unsaturated fatty acids (62% monosaturated and 25% polyunsaturated).

Today, Southern orchards produce 250 million pounds in an average year with four-fifths of the pecan harvest sold as shelled nuts. The nuts ripen from mid-September until December and are harvested after they fall to the ground. No nuts are produced until trees are five or six years old. Varieties recommended for commercial use are: Cheyenne, Sioux, Cape Fear, Caddo, Wichita, Choctaw, Pawnee, Maramac, Melroses, Desirable, Eliot, and Western. Farmers choose varieties depending on their location and desired crop size.

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Tips

Pie Crust

1. Measure ingredients precisely.
2. Don't substitute liquid or reduced-fat vegetable oil for solid all-vegetable shortening.
3. Add water sparingly, one tablespoon at a time, until dough forms a ball.
4. Do not overwork dough in mixing and kneading.
5. Do not stretch the dough crust to fit the pie plate as crust shrinks when baked.
6. Cover the edges of the pie crust with aluminum foil and remove for last 15 minutes of baking to prevent crust from getting too brown before pie is done.
7. More Crust Tips

Pie Filling

1. Use large eggs for "Recipes.
2. Dark corn syrup (vs. light corn syrup) gives pecan pie a stronger taste.
3. Bake until top cracks and filling is almost firm (jiggles just slightly).