Cracking Pecans
Cracking pecans is the next task. Once you have gathered your pecans you are ready to get at the "meat" stored inside those brown shells. If you have "papershell" pecans this process may be a little easier than if you are working with wild seedling variety. The hybrid "papershell" pecans have thinner shell than their "wild" cousins. You may choose to crack them yourself using a commercially available pecan nut cracker or electric pecan nut cracker.
You can even stand the pecan on end and crack it with a hammer. If you are outside you can place two pecans in your hand, squeeze them together to crush the shell and dig out the meat. Our son likes us to use this option. Easy for him (he only eats the pecan halves), a little harder on mom and dad (your hands get pretty tired after 30 minutes or so of doing this repeatedly). :) Otherwise you will want to take them to a local pecan cracking and shelling company who will take care of that for you for a reasonable charge. Depending on the pecan equipment they have available they may be able to crack and shell the pecans for you. Some companies might even sort them into halves and pieces. We normally take them to be cracked and do the shelling ourselves. You’ll likely have to drop them off and pick them up later. They are usually pretty busy around harvest time. Once we get the crushed pecans back we will spend many hours shelling them or "picking" them out as we call it. Let the fun begin!
Go to Shelling Pecans from Cracking Pecans
