Pecan

Pecans are the soft, buttery tree nut, sweet with a caramel edge and a bite that gives way rather than snapping. If you know walnuts, a pecan is the same long grooved shape from the same family but rounder and much gentler, with none of the tannic bitterness that sits in the walnut skin.

Pecans are among the richest nuts in oil, and that is exactly where the buttery taste comes from. It also means they brown fast under heat and go stale quickly if they are left somewhere warm, so they reward a short toast and cold storage more than most nuts do.

How to use them

Toast them and fold them into baklava, halwa and sheer payra, or chop them through cakes, cookies, banana bread and butter tarts. They are good on a cheese board with dried figs, scattered over a green salad with pomegranate, stirred into granola and trail mix, or crushed as a crust for chicken and fish. Technique tip: toast in a dry pan over medium heat for three or four minutes and take them off while they still look pale, they carry on cooking in their own oil.

Details

Also known as

Pecan nuts, Sweet pecans, American pecans, Noix de pecan (French), Nuez pecana (Spanish), Pekannuss (German)