Glorious Pecan Country

Southern Living, Nov 2005 by Thomas, Les

Travel Southern byways to magical spots where gifts do indeed fall from trees.

It's raining pecans in the town of Vienna, Georgia, this afternoon. When the giant arms of a motorized shaker hug the trunk of a huge tree, laden branches give up their treasures like a bursting pinata.

"When it comes to pecans, our state leads the way," says grower Elliott ElHs. More than 80 million pounds a season make Georgia the biggest pecan producer in the nation.

Travel around South Georgia, and the bounty of the harvest season reaches out to you. It glows in the miles of green-crowned groves that line roadsides around Albany. You can hear it rattle in the hoppers of shelling machines in Weston. You can taste it in the crisp, crunchy flavor of fresh pecans sold at roadside stands and stores.

Taste the Brittle

More than 16,000 trees supply the store and mail-order business just off 1-75 in Vienna where four generations of the Ellis family work. Ellis Bros. Pecans sells a half-dozen types of fresh pecans, fruitcakes, and many kinds of pecan candies, but the star of the show is the pecan brittle that Elliott's mother, Irene, makes with the same family recipe she's been using for more than 50 years.

"When I was in college in the early 1950s, she knew I liked it," Elliott recalls. "About every two weeks, I'd get a coffee can filled with pecan brittle. I found out a lot of other people liked it too. When we went into the retail business, that was our starting recipe."

Irene watches over the production of hundreds of pounds of brittle now. It's one of the most popular products in the store. An 8-ounce container sells for $2.25. "We ship to all 50 states and several foreign countries; we've shipped many packages to Iraq," says Elliott's wife, Cile.

Roots Go Deep

Prices for shelled pecans in local stores should range from $6 to $7 a pound this season. Growers expect a nice crop, but pecans can be fickle. "One tree can produce 400 pounds, and chances are that next year it won't make one nut," jokes Elliott, who spent 20 years with the Georgia Cooperative Extension Service before he started the business.

It's a frenetically busy season for the Ellis family and other growers, but there's a timelessness to the harvest that spans generations. Some of the oldest trees in the Ellises' groves were planted during World War I. "They're still producing well," says Elliott. "I expect they'll make it to 100 years old."

Good reasons to be thankful are all around you when you drive through Georgia during the holidays. Some of the best gifts fall right out of the trees. LES THOMAS

For some great-tasting pecan recipes, see pages 150, 160, and 202.

CRUISE A CATALOG

Many growers ship products by mail. Here are some to contact around the South.

* Ellis Bros. Pecans, Inc: 1315 Tippettville Road, Vienna, GA 31092; 1-800-635-0616 or www.werenuts.com.The retail store at Exit 109 on I-75 is open 8 a.m.-7 p.m. daily.

* Merritt Pecan Company: 4051 U.S. 520, Weston, GA 31832; 1-800-762-9152 or www.merritt-pecan.com. Mailorder products include pralines, brittle, divinity, and shelled pecans. Check out their retail store in Weston.

* Millican Pecan Company: 1101 Wallace Street, San Saba, TX 76877; toll-free 1 -866-484-6358 or www.pecancompany. com. Founded in 1888, this West Texas grower's early customers included Queen Victoria and Lord Tennyson.

* Natchitoches Pecans, Inc.: 439 Little Eva Road, Cloutierville, LA 71416; 1-800-572-5925 or www.natchitochespecans.com. Popular products from this 400acre orchard include the Cane River Sampler, a 1-pound tin filled with cinnamon-spice pecans and several other goodies ($22.95).

* Sunnyland Farms, Inc.: 2314 Willson Road, Albany, GA 31705; 1-800-999-2488 or www.sunnylandfarms.com. By mail order only, Sunnyland sells a large variety of nuts, pecan candies, and gifts.