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We live in southern New Mexico where in 2010, 66 million pounds of pecans were produced (an “off” year) second only to Georgia’s crop of 70 million pounds. One of the worlds’ largest orchards is just down the road from us. We have one small pecan tree and my daughter has one pecan tree that is well over 100 feet tall. So we get LOTS of pecans. People here know quite a lot about pecans and nuts are easy to come by. It is reasonable to see why shelling pecans is big business here.
Probably the oldest method of shelling pecans is the hand-cracking method of holding two pecans side-by-side in one hand with the pointy end of the nuts up. Close your hand around the nuts and squeeze while rolling the nuts to find the best cracking point. It takes a little practice but this is the gentlest way of removing almost every nut meat in perfect shape. I have read that it takes quite a bit of hand strength to do this but I’m an old, 5 ft two inch tall female and I have no problem shelling pecans this way at all.
Much of the task of shelling pecans depends on the type or variety of pecans you have available in your area. Wild pecans have quite tough shells and are difficult to shell with any method. While the shell toughness of cultivated varieties of pecans vary somewhat, most have relatively thin, brittle shells which are quite easy to crack especially compared to walnuts, filberts and lots of other types of nuts.
From the National Center for Home Food Preservation:
I just have to know. Is it PEE-CAN or PA-KAWN?
A 2003 national survey found that “PEE-can” is the overwhelming choice among Americans. Nearly half of consumers (45 percent, including almost seven out of 10 living in the Northeast) prefer this pronunciation of the all-American tree nut, with the rest of the nation roughly split between pa-KAWN and PEE-kawn (Source: National Pecan Shellers Association).
A hammer applied to a pecan held against with the blunt end against a solid surface while striking the pointy end will free the nut rather well.
Some people use a simple slipjoint pliers to shell their pecans. Like any other method, it takes a little practice, but can be an efficient method of pecan shelling. It’s all in controlling the amount of pressure.
The standard general purpose nutcracker can be used, too, but from personal experience I can tell you that this is not the tool of choice. Like the slipjoint pliers, more often than not, it smashes the nut to bits. Using the hammer correctly does a better job than the standard nut cracker.
There is a sheller called the Rocket which I have not tried. Here’s a video showing how it works and it looks pretty neat. (Video on using the Rocket Pecan Cracker at
http://www.wikihow.com/Shell-Pecans) My tool of choice is the Nibbler also called the Texan Nut Sheller or the Duke Company Hand Pliers Nut Sheller . With this pecan sheller, cut each end of the shell off then “nibble” the sides of the shell all around. Then simply pull off the broken shell. With this tool, I was able to produce about 90% complete nut halves which was far better than any of the other tools
I also tried the recommendation of putting the nuts in a bowl of boiling water then shelling the nuts after the water has cooled. I did not much like this as it made the shells rather leathery. The shells will cut but they don’t crack which greatly reduced the effectiveness of all the shelling tools because the leathery texture of the shell required more pressure to fracture the shell which pulverized the nut itself.
Just now I ordered the Duke Company Pecan Nut Cracker. I will report back on how it compares with the Nibbler.
So why doesn’t someone make an electric or automatic pecan sheller. Well, they have. But it’s expensive at around $500 before shipping. There is a hand-operated machine called The World’s Best Nutcracker (http://www.theworldsbestnutcracker.com/) which sells for $159.95 plus shipping. It can shell 50 pounds of nuts an hour. You still have to separate nut from shell but you have to do that with all but the most sophisticated automatic or electrical nut shellers anyway. If you buy this machine, we would love to hear from you in detail about how you like it and how it works for you. (This is not an affiliate link so I have no vested interest in the product at all.)
Economically speaking, about 66% of the weight of the pecan is in the shell.This year in our area, pecans in the shell from the orchard sold for $2.83 per pound. That would mean that in 50 pounds of unshelled pecans which would sell for $141.50 and 66% of the weight is shell, that would leave only 33 pounds of nut meats. $141.50 divided by the 33 pounds of nut meats would increase the price to $4.29 per pound before paying for the shelling. I think the last price I heard for shelling locally was $0.50 per pound. That brings the wholesale cost of the shelled pecan to $4.79 per pound. So it’s no surprise now that shelled pecans are $9 and $10 per pound in the grocery or specialty store.
Whatever method you choose to shell your pecans, you are creating a valuable and very healthy snack for you and your family.
