Why You Should Be Eating More Pecans

Though often typecast as a mere Thanksgiving pie ingredient, pecans are more than deserving of a spot in your pantry (or freezer) all year long. That’s because beyond their delicious taste, these crunchy favorites are also packed to the brim with nutrition. Read on to find out just what makes pecans such a healthy addition to your lifestyle as well as some tasty pecan recipes to get started.

Antonis Achilleos

A national treasure, pecans are the only tree nut indigenous to America. With evidence dating all the way back to 1600 BC along the banks of the Rio Grande river, pecans have been part of the American landscape long before any of the constructs making up our country have. Before and after colonization, Native Americans relied on the pecans as a food source while also utilizing pecan tree leaves and bark for medicinal purposes. In fact, the word pecan is Algonquin in origin, meaning “requiring a stone to crack.”

These nut trees were first cultivated in northern Mexico in the 1600s and 1700s by Spanish colonists and soon after that, the first American pecan tree was planted in Long Island, New York. The pecan industry has been booming ever since, and the nut has even been a favorite amongst many U.S. presidents along the way, including Thomas Jefferson and George Washington.

Even today, 80% of the world’s pecans are produced in America. There are more than 1,000 varieties of this tasty nut, and a staggering 275 million pounds of it were produced in 2022, up 8% from the previous year.It may come as no shock that Georgia produces the most pecans, followed by New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, and Alabama.

These often underrated nuts can be an incredible addition to a healthy lifestyle, thanks to their robust nutrition profile.