Phoebe Lawless tells me, “I’m not sure I’m the right person to talk to about your chapter. I don’t really like pecan pies.”
I stare at Phoebe mystified. Being the southern boy that I am, I just assumed that everyone likes pecan pie. To find myself in the presence of one of the South’s award winning pie makers who doesn’t love this pie that defines the South itself leaves me speechless.
My bewildered response to Phoebe, “ummm…why not?”
“Pecan pies just go against everything a pie is about.”
In other words, pecan pie is the anti-pie.
“The idea behind the pie is a great deal of thrift. A pie doesn’t need a container. A piece of pie is its own handle or wrap. A pie also stems from using what is on hand. Using soft bruised fruit. Of the season.”
Pecan pies on the other hand are over the top, incredibly decadent and sweet, they’re pies for holidays. They are a treat for special occasions that justify spending $10 a pound for pecans. Despite Phoebe’s loathing, nearly half the pies she sells for the holidays are pecan, that’s around 200 pies. With a pound and a half of pecans per pie, they are one of the most expensive pies she makes.
It’s not surprising the pecan has become an anti-pie. The growth schedule puts the pecan to market right near the holidays and excessive eating. In the spring, typically April, male and female flowers form. Pecans are monoecious, literally meaning single house in Greek, referring to the fact that a single tree contains both male and female parts. Pollen from the male flowers is carried by the wind to female flowers. The female part of the plant is called the carpel and consists of three parts: the stigma at the tip that is sticky and attracts the pollen, the style a slender neck portion that is the highway to the ovary, and the ovary at the base that houses the egg. Once the pollen lands on the stigma, a pollen tube forms that grows down through the style to the ovary wall. About four weeks after pollination sperm actually fertilizes the egg. At the same time, the carpel begins to produce the endosperm that acts as the food store for the developing embryo. That endosperm is the pecan kernel and the beloved ingredient for my favorite pie.
Pecan trees are a bit finicky. Female flowers can be produced in abundance or if the previous year’s crop was substantial female flowers may be scarce. Pecan trees alternate bear producing a substantial harvest one year and harvest of 75% less the following. Pecan trees also experience two “drops” in May and June. In the May drop, female flowers will be shed that did not develop properly, were not pollinated, or did not develop food reserves. In June, if the egg is not fertilized or there is no endosperm for the developing egg, a flower drop will occur again. Roughly 25% of a tree’s total potential nuts can be lost during these two drops.
The pecan develops in two phases. The first occurs from pollination and lasts until the shell hardens. The size of the nut, the total shelled pecan, is determined during this phase. Water is needed during this phase for proper growth, thus the first phase is often referred to as the water stage. Taking about 90 days, this stage usually ends toward the last part of August. Both the embryo and ovary are now at their largest. During the second phase, shell hardening occurs until the outer shuck splits. This hard shell prevents any further enlargement of the ovary or embryo. The kernel, or if you need it for a recipe, pecan meats, develop and fills out during this phase reaching full size in late September. Within a few weeks the pecan is mature and the hull splits, exposing the nut. At this point the nut goes from about 30% moisture to 12%.
By late October or early November, the pecans drop from the tree and ready to be harvested. Just in time for pies for the holiday season. Our association of pecan as the Southern Thanksgiving and Christmas pie is a fortunate or an unfortunate happenstance. The exact origins of the pecan pie recipe are unknown but some of the oldest recipes date back to Texas. In this area pecan trees and nuts were plentiful. Making a pie required one to pick only the bounty of fallen nuts from the ground. Thus, like other thrifty pies, the pecan pie was originally created to use what was at hand. The pecan pie’s origins were indeed more humble.