Why are pecans so damned expensive?

[Redstone]

Four and a half bucks for a six-ounce bag at our local supermarket. But I have to have them, so I'll pay it.

When I lived down South, I saw pecan trees all over the place. So why are they more expensive than even walnuts? Just curious.

Redstone

[flvegan]

1. Quality difference.

Welcome to my life, sir.

[Redstone]

11. Elucidate, please?

Redstone

[flvegan]

18. It's a quality v. quantity difference.

That's all I'm sayin'.

[sendero]

2. Down here...

.. in TX they are about $5 a pound. But then, this is where they grow.

I have (had) 9 pecan trees growing at Sendero Compound, but 2 of them died suddenly (they were 3 and 2 years old). I think I've figured out why they gave up the ghost and I'm hoping to keep the remaining seven alive.

Pecans are pretty wonderful, there is nothing else quite like them, which I supppose is true of most any nut :)

[crim son]

3. No idea, but it is annoying because they taste very

good in baked goods. Maybe the shell makes them harder to process?

[Shakespeare]

4. Two words: Hurricane Katrina

Much of last year's pecan harvest in the deep south was wiped out, so prices went up. They're always a little more expensive than walnuts, but this year they're noticeably higher.

[Redstone]

5. Oh, damn, I hadn't thought of that! Excuse me all to hell, because it

should have occurred to me that Katrina would have blown a bunch of pecan trees down.

I'm not joking. I'm kind of embarrassed that I didn't make that connection.

Redstone

[Catshrink]

6. Supermarket prices are outrageous...

but Trader Joe's is reasonable. I think they're about $7 a pound there these days, unless they've gone up in the past month.

[Courtesy Flush]

7. They don't grow on trees, ya know! nt

[LeftyMom]

8. I don't know.

If you have a Trader Joes they usually have good deals on them. I do a bit better price-wise at the farmer's market or up north a few counties at the farm stands, but they have huge nut orchards an hour or two north of here so that's why.

[coffeenap]

9. Get thee to a Costco--irrc, 3# for about $10. Almonds too! nt

[Redstone]

12. Well, all right, then. We have those around here.

Thank you.

And, by the way, I haven't forgotten. Someday, I'll pay you back for what you did for me. I don't know how or when, but I will. And you'll like it.

Redstone

[johnnie]

10. Why do you need a pee can anyway?

You can just use an old coffee can. Or save up and buy a toilet. :shrug:

[Redstone]

13. Actually, a Gatorade bottle works better. Especially on the highway.

Just pull over on the shoulder for a minute, and you're all set.

But it has to be one of those wide-mouth ones, don't you know...

Redstone

[reyd reid reed]

14. I don't know...

and with the holidays just around the corner, I wish the price would come down. I go through a LOT of 'em between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

:scared:

I can remember, when we lived in Alabama, they were everywhere...they were a pain in the tush (of course, I was a tweener at the time so everything was a pain in the tush).

[Redstone]

15. NOTHING makes a tweener girl happy, does it? One of the reasons

I'm happy we've had two boys, no girls.

(The other is that if I had a daughter who looked like a younger Mrs R, I'd be sitting up with a shotgun every time she went out on a date. Or sent her to the nunnery, one of the two.)

Sorry if I'm a bit old-fashioned.

Redstone

[reyd reid reed]

19. You're no more old-fashioned than I am

Four of my five are boys and for that, I'm profoundly grateful I couldn't have handled more than one daughter. Boys are Sooooo much easier to deal with. And they don't want makeup.

:eyes:

And I don't sit up with a shotgun...I don't have to, she's got two older brothers and two younger brothers. No matter which way she turns, one of 'em's there, watching her. And her friends. ESPECIALLY her friends.

Although the shotgun DOES have advantages now that I think of it.

[spacelady]

24. Is it PEEcan, peeCAN, peeKAHN, or PEEkahn? If this former Yankee

could pronounce it properly, I might could begin to discuss it.

[reyd reid reed]

26. Depends.

Where I lived, it was PEE-can. With a lilt. Like 'can of beans'. Except no self-respecting southerner buys canned beans. And they spoiled me for honey down there. No such thing as Sue-Bee.

No such thing as Vlasic, either. Everyone made their own. Pickles and sweet tea and sweet cornbread and okra and preserves and...

Pecans. Lots and lots of pee-cans.

[Flaxbee]

16. I hadn't thought of Katrina, either, and I was bitching about

prices last week, too. I made a cake and wanted to add pecans; the pecans cost more than all the other ingredients combined. But damn, it was a good cake! I haven't had a birthday cake in years, and thought I'd treat myself with pecans. I'm glad I did. ;-)

[Drum]

23. ...

:D

[tyedyeto]

17. I live in AZ with 7500 acres of pecan trees nearby.

Those pecan groves have been sold recently to residential developers.

Even before that, pecans were just as expensive here as elsewhere in the US. Why? I have no idea!

[Drum]

25. An inexplicable parallel:

With my job I've taken two multiweek trips to Alaska, and salmon and crabs were still verrry expensive.

Explanation to us: exportation to other states and countries.

:shrug:

[SoCalDemGrrl]

20. Try Trader Joes...they are the cheapest..

[leftofthedial]

21. Pecans grow in the south

some of the other nuts grow in cooler climes as well

and I don't think the pecan industry is as organized as almonds or peanuts

Pecans are a huge crop in the part of New Mexico where I come from

[Bridget Burke]

33. I attended a wedding reception in Las Cruces....

In the middle of a huge pecan orchard.

[Drum]

22. Former in-laws in Dallas TX had a neat house.

A cool mid-1900s modern, but with a slope roofline that was constantly reverbing the dropping and rolling pecans.... I cna't help but think that yours is a regional mark-up in $, or maybe borne of convenience (aka: where you're shopping?)

[pitohui]

27. have you ever tried to shell them?

i have a pecan tree and fuck that shit, pabst blue ribbon

life is too short

[grasswire]

29. have you ever shelled a black walnut?

Lord almighty. You need a hammer, apparently. They're good, though.

[pitohui]

30. yes and you do need a hammer

i'll pay the going rate for shelled walnuts also

life is too damn short

who cares about GM corn, modify these damn nuts already

[benny05]

28. Pecans more difficult to shell compared to walnuts

Otherwise, I'm certain there's some kind of trade or ag tariff stuff.

[Broken_Hero]

31. I have no idea to be honest...:shrug: nt

[NewWaveChick1981]

32. Honestly, I believe it's due to the distributors...

My mother and uncle inherited my grandmother's farm when she passed away in 1991. On that farm, there are sixteen huge pecan trees that my grandfather planted when my mother was born (they're 70 years old now). From those trees, there is usually a very good pecan crop (not every year, but most). Mom has tried selling shelled ones to distributors, and all they pay is about 50 cents a pound. Shelling pecans is very hard work, and if you don't bring the nuts in whole (i.e. if they are broken and/or in pieces), you get about 20 cents a pound for them. Once she found out how little the producer gets compared to how outrageous the prices are in stores, she said, "Fuck it---we'll keep them ourselves." She has a chest freezer full of pecans, and they keep for a long, long time that way. I have a ton of them here, but I know if I ever need any, I can get them from her.

Yes, pecans are damn expensive in stores and have been for some time. Unless there's a legitimate reason (like Hurricane Katrina) for those outrageous prices, it's just because the sellers can get it. :( Mom keeps up with trends and prices, and there's no good reason for it as far as she can tell.


Edited to add: The best way to shell pecans is to scald them before cracking them. Place them in boiling water for a few minutes (5 to 7 minutes), then take them out and let them cool enough to handle them. You can crack them much more easily that way.

[Bridget Burke]

34. Check out the pecan cakes from Collin Street Baker in Texas.

Yes, they're expensive too. www.collinstreet.com/pages/pecan_cakes

The bakery also sells a fruitcake that's actually Good!

One of this month's ice cream flavors from the Blue Bell Creamery: Southern Pecan Pie - A rich brown sugar ice cream with roasted pecan halves and pieces of flaky pie crust mixed together with a praline sauce swirl.

www.bluebell.com/icecream_new.htm

[RebelOne]

35. Come to Georgia. They are cheap here. n/t

[Crazy Dave]

36. I've got a large pecan tree in my yard

Starting next month there'll be plenty for eating and what we don't eat the squirrels throw at our cars and our cats.

[begin_within]

37. If you think pecans are expensive, try macadamia nuts. Even more expensive

And, supposedly, Mrs. Field's Cookies buys 10% of the world macadamia nut crop each year.