Get crackin'

Fresh pecan nuts, what is not to love? It’s a therapeutic job to crack them yourself, but I like to buy them from a local farmer and they only come whole. Biggest job is to distract the kids, so some shelled nuts actually make it into the pantry...

Pecans are brilliant in a fruit loaf, salad or banana (recycle) cake, very much the same uses as walnuts, I find them a little sweeter.

The tree I put in didn’t survive last Summers wild weather, I’ll try again, maybe this time with a plan... A whole row of them along the paddock fence, a girl can dream right? The macadamia tree luckily did survive, it will be a while before it starts bearing, but boy do I look forward to start harvesting!

Another way to use them is as a paste for sandwiches. Left: pecan paste, right: macadamia paste.

Easy to make too, I put the nuts in the food processor and whizzed until smooth. I might actually dry roast them for the next batch, to bring out the flavour more. The macadamias tastes better with a little salt added. The pecan nuts needed a tiny bit of oil to smooth out.
You can make these pastes with all types or combinations of nuts. I think I’ll try almonds next.