It Takes 11,624 Pecans, Stacked End To End, To Reach The Top Of The Empire State Building

National Pecan Sandies Day is an American food holiday that is observed by cookie lovers each year on June 23rd.

• As long as baking has been documented, cookie-like wafers have existed.  Part of the reason may be because these sturdy cookies travel very well.  Cookies have changed and evolved over the years with the modern standards of sweetness and variety.  The mild sweetness of these cookies pairs well with tea and coffee.  The texture of these melt-in-your-mouth cookies is similar to shortbread cookies.
• Another shortbread version of a pecan sandie is called a Mexican or Italian Wedding cookie. These powdered sugar coated balls also melt in your mouth and look like delicious snowballs – another name for the sweet morsel. They’re easy to make and store, too! Either version of the cookie is Celebrate Every Day® approved!
• If the body does not get enough zinc, it may have difficulty producing testosterone – a key hormone in initiating sexual desire in both men and women.  Pecans provide nearly 10 percent of the recommended Daily Value for zinc.
• Texas adopted the pecan tree as its state tree in 1919.  In fact, Texas Governor James Hogg liked pecan trees so much that he asked if a pecan tree could be planted at his gravesite when he died.
• Albany, Georgia, which boasts more than 600,000 pecan trees, is the pecan capital of the U.S.  Albany hosts the annual National Pecan Festival, which includes a race, parade, pecan-cooking contest, the crowning of the National Pecan Queen and many other activities.
• Pecan trees usually range in height from 70 to 100 feet, but some trees grow as tall as 150 feet or higher.  Native pecan trees – those over 150 years old – have trunks more than three feet in diameter.
• “Pecan” is from an Algonquian word, meaning a nut requiring a stone to crack.
• It would take 11,624 pecans, stacked end to end, to reach the top of the Empire State Building in New York City.
• Texas adopted the pecan tree as its state tree in 1919.  In fact, Texas Governor James Hogg liked pecan trees so much that he asked if a pecan tree could be planted at his gravesite when he died.
• Albany, Georgia, which boasts more than 600,000 pecan trees, is the pecan capital of the U.S.  Albany hosts the annual National Pecan Festival, which includes a race, parade, pecan-cooking contest, the crowning of the National Pecan Queen and many other activities.
• Pecan trees usually range in height from 70 to 100 feet, but some trees grow as tall as 150 feet or higher.  Native pecan trees – those over 150 years old – have trunks more than three feet in diameter.
• There are over 1,000 varieties of pecans.  Many are named for Native American Indian tribes, including Cheyenne, Mohawk, Sioux, Choctaw and Shawnee.
• The U.S. produces about 80 percent of the world’s pecan crop.
• Before a shelled pecan is ready to be sold, it must first be cleaned, sized, sterilized, cracked and finally, shelled.
• There are two ways people pronounce “pecan” no one agrees which is the correct pronunciation.
• When Spanish explorers discovered them in the 16th Century, they named them “nuez de larruga” which means “wrinkle nut”
• Native Americans also made a fermented intoxicating pecan beverage called “powcohicora”
• The word hickory comes from the word “powcohicora
• Thomas Jefferson planted a pecan tree in his orchard and would gift the other founding fathers pecans.
• Astronauts took pecans to the moon two times in the Apollo space mission.
• Roasted pecan shells were often used as a substitute for coffee during World War II
• Okmulgee, OK holds the world’s records for the largest pecan pie, pecan cookie, and pecan brownie
• Pecan wood was used for the handles of the Olympic Torches in 1996. The torches were carried across a 15,000-mile relay until the flame was lit at the host city Atlanta, Georgia.
• The first U.S. pecan planting took place in Long Island, NY in 1772. By the late 1700’s, pecans from the northern range reached the English portion of the Atlantic Seaboard and were planted in the gardens of easterners such as George Washington (1775) and Thomas Jefferson (1779). Settlers were also planting pecans in community gardens along the Gulf Coast at this time.

Sources:

National Day Calendar

Foodimentary

Mobile-Cuisine

NatchitochesPecans