Pecans

Just sharing some snapshots of a recent kitchen endeavor - shelling pecans and then prepping them for freezing! I think this project stretched out over 5 days. It was very time consuming but so worth it! Although I'm not actually sure how worth it Patrick would say it was. Here's a photo recount and some information about what we did!

STEP ONE
Shell pecans.

Right before the holidays my dad shared with us a few bags of pecans. We were very thankful to have these pecans at our disposal. As we all know pecans are expensive because, I imagine, cracking pecans is a daunting task. With that said Patrick may argue after this pecan project that the price is justified. We cracked pecans over the course of three evenings.
[After sharing the draft with Patrick before setting to publish his response was "you forgot the pics of bloody fingers and fingernails" so cracking pecans is quite an ordeal]

STEP TWO
Rinse pecans.

After we cracked the pecans we rinsed the pecans. Granny passed this tip along to us. She recommended it because it removes all the "pecan dust" - small dirt and debris from the shell - off the pecans.

Dupree, ever the curious cat, investigates the dirty water
After taking the pecans out of the water I was surprised to see how much dirt and debris was left behind! I'm glad we did the rinsing step.

STEP THREE
Roast pecans on low heat.

After rinsing the pecans we placed them into a low heat oven (200F) to dry out. Once the pecans have been in the oven for about 30 minutes we turned it off but left them in overnight. Granny also recommended this.


STEP FOUR
Bag pecans.

Finally the pecans are ready to be frozen or eaten. We bagged three freezer bags of pecans - each with 3 cups in them. With the leftover pecans I put them into a plastic tupperware container for the pantry.


What a treat it is to have these pecans ready for us in the freezer! With the ones in the pantry we have already made a pecan pie, added them to salads, and have been snacking on them.

Thanks to Granny for her tips on prepping the pecans. Like us, she has been enjoying watching "A Chef's Life" on PBS and recently Vivian featured pecans and recommended this technique.

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