Her friends scooped up a Wal-Mart bag full of pecans for her and they were waiting for me when I went South for Christmas. With all the goings-on, I forgot about them until my Mom arrived and made mention of them. I was happy to get started with hammer and thumbs.
As a child, I remember a few occasions of helping Mom shell pecans. As a meticulous, task-oriented person, shelling pecans is a surprisingly enjoyable experience for me. Laugh if you must. It does remind me of my Southern roots.
If you haven't ever shelled pecans, it's not a simple task. Those of you who prefer the bigger picture of life would tire of it quickly.
The shell is hard enough that without a nutcracker, you should crack the shell with one or two somewhat gentle taps of a hammer. When you remove the shell later, it's more than just prying it open with your thumbs. You need to separate the pecan halves and pick away all of the stuff from between them and from the cracks of the pecan. It's important to get rid of all that so it doesn't make it into your cooking or baking. It is bitter.
It wasn't long before my prying thumbs were tender, so this is all I managed to shell:
Nonetheless, I'm pleased. It's a few dollars worth of pecans, but the best part was the nostalgia of shelling them while down South with family.
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