Folks can’t agree on how to say it, but one of my earliest memories was picking up pecans from the tree outside my bedroom window when I was a kid.
It was much safer than picking up peaches from the peach trees, too. The peach trees attracted yellow jackets and other such creatures that I wasn’t interested in getting acquainted with.
Ray Spitzenberger writes about his memories of picking pecans in “It Must Be The Noodles.” Inside you can learn what type of pecans were his family’s favorite, what his father preferred to pecans (and pralines), and why gathering pecans was more dangerous than picking up peaches was for me (I didn’t know about this danger!).
It also contains a recipe for pralines from his mother’s collection (but unfortunately not his mother’s recipe for pecan pie– that’s my absolute favorite kind of pie), as well as a treat more to his father’s liking.
Pick up your copy on Amazon today. As of the time of this writing, the paperbacks are $9.99 (I paid $13 for my copy at the Texas Wendish Heritage Museum last Saturday) and you can get it on your Kindle for $8.99 if that’s your style.
(This photo was taken in Cameron, Texas, just east of the courthouse. Reminds me of the front porch of the old general store down the road from my house.)