Cracking Open

The 2010 crop of Pawnee pecans have just begun to start cracking open. A few of the trees around our orchards have started to pop those outer green shells (called the hull) to show big, beautiful, and well filled out Pawnee pecans!

Of course we still have a few weeks to go and we will need help from Mother Nature but this is all a very good sign.

Once the Pawnee pecans have really opened up we will start running shakers and harvesters to pick the pecans. Then the pecans must be cleaned, inspected, sized, run through dryers (to take out any "green" taste they may have since they are the first ones harvested), they are inspected again, and then they finally make their way to our store.

Shelled pecans take a little longer because they must be cracked and shelled and inspected a third time before they can be bagged and placed on the shelf for our customers.

Still the first sighting of pecans is all very exciting! It means all the work and waiting and worrying we did since last January through the summer and until now was worth it...of course we will still wait and worry (which is a lot of work) until we have the pecans on the ground and in the store!