National Pecan Month

Five Food Finds about Pecans

  • There are over 1,000 varieties of pecans.  Many are named for Native American Indian tribes, including Cheyenne, Mohawk, Sioux, Choctaw and Shawnee.
  • The U.S. produces about 80 percent of the world’s pecan crop.
  • Before a shelled pecan is ready to be sold, it must first be cleaned, sized, sterilized, cracked and finally, shelled.
  • Texas adopted the pecan tree as its state tree in 1919.
  • Albany, Georgia, which boasts more than 600,000 pecan trees, is the pecan capital of the U.S.

Today’s Food History

on this day in…

1764 The Sugar Act passed in Britain, placing new restrictions on the import of molasses to America.

1806 Isaac Quintard patented the apple cider mill.

1858 W. Atlee Burpee was born. Founder of the world’s largest mail-order seed company in 1876.

1881 Edwing Houston and Elihu Thomson patented a centrifugal separator, which could be used in separating milk.

1981 R.I.P. Bob Hite. Singer with Canned Heat.

1994 R.I.P. Andre Tchelistcheff. Tchelistcheff was a Russian-born U.S. enologist, was a pivotal figure in the revitalization of the California wine industry following Prohibition (1919-33) and used his Paris training in viticulture and wine making to pioneer such techniques as cold fermentation and the use of American oak barrels for aging. He was also an authority on the types of soil suitable for growing various grape varieties.

1998 The Spice Girls first U.K. concert in Glasgow