National Pecan Month

Markus Brunner, Germany

April is National Pecan Month in the United States.

Pecans are a type of hickory tree that is found in the southern U.S. and northern Mexico, and the fruit harvested from them is also called the pecan. Pecan trees are cultivated, primarily in Georgia, Texas and Mexico, and are one of the most recent domesticated crops, with commercial growing only starting in the late 19th century. Pecans were eaten for hundreds of years prior to that, of course, but these were wild pecans rather than domesticated.

Pecans, like many things called nuts, are not botanical nuts but actually a type of seed. They are a popular snack food and are also used in pecan pies, a traditional dish of the southern U.S. Like many nuts, both culinary and botanical, pecans contain a lot of useful nutrients.