On Monday I picked up a 5 gallon bucket of pecans at a friend's house. About 3/4 of them have been shelled, about 4 lbs of nuts so far. I read in Jackie Clay's canning book about pressure canning nuts to keep them fresh and non-rancid for a long time so today I put up three pint jars of them just to see. It's really easy. They get lightly toasted or dried out on cookie sheets in the oven for 25 minutes. Then they go into the jars with 1/2" head space and into the pressure cooker for 10 minutes at 5 lbs pressure.



Two of the three didn't seal so I put the two back into the canner for another round of 10 minutes. They sealed. I think next time I'll can them for 15 minutes instead of 10. They'll get set aside and we'll see how they do over time. It would be nice not to devote freezer space to them.

Meanwhile, that last mess of nuts are a lot smaller than the rest as they came from a different tree. I think I'll let the squirrels have them and go back to my friend's house to get another half bucket of the larger ones. That should be a gracious plenty to have on hand.

Never heard of canning pecans.
Something new every day.

[mention]worth1[/mention] , that was a first for me too. She says this works with all kinds of nuts. I think I'm going to try it with walnuts because they can go rancid in the freezer a lot sooner than pecans. I've had pecans stay just fine for three years in the freezer for three years. A 3 lb bag of walnuts were funky after just one year. Maybe canning will make the difference.

Interesting that you can without liquids in the jar. I did not think that was possible.

I have stored walnuts for several years in my freezer, after vacuum sealing them. When I got a deal on them, I did this, then just opened the 4c bags, as needed, and dumped in a jar, keeping that in the freezer until used up. I'll be interested in the results of the canning - would that keep out enough O2 to prevent rancidity?

So are these the same as canned nuts, except the cans are glass, not metal? How interesting. And how I wish we had lots of pecan trees around here in S CA. I love all nuts except hazel & Brazil nuts. I always left those behind when eating a batch of mixed nuts.

My father was raised up in a tiny place called Bend Texas.
It is between Lampasas Texas and San Saba Texas.
San Saba is considered the pecan capital of the world.
Every year when we came down for Christmas we would go get giant burlap sacks of pecans and peanuts and bring them home.
We would then every night shell pecans put them in bags and freeze them.
There was a whole chest freezer dedicated to nuts dried fruit and so on.
I always had a sack of pecans and home dried fruit next to my bed to snack on at night while I was reading.
Ben Texas is the home of the world famous Jumbo Hollis Pecan tree.
I have played around that thing many times and never knew of its fame.
In 1919 it produced 1,015 pound of nuts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bend,_Texas#Jumbo_Hollis
There are some very huge trees at Bend Texas.

peebee wrote: ↑Sat Nov 14, 2020 1:18 am So are these the same as canned nuts, except the cans are glass, not metal?

Commercially, they can nuts, and a lot of "junk food" by putting nitrogen in the cans or bags, to keep them fresh much longer.

Also the nut needs the moisture removed as this will help to keep then from molding and or going bad.
The rancidity is caused from oxygen and heat.
This is why I am now toasting/slow frying my nuts in a neutral flavored oil or a nut oil to remove the moisture.
Also you will end up with a fantastic tasting toasted nut oil along with the nuts.
Just dont over heat them and let them do their thing slowly.
Put the hot nuts and oil in a jar and it will seal on its own.
I keep mine in the refrigerator.
Just remember this stuff will be hot big time so be careful.

The 25 minutes in the 250 oven is supposed to dry them out. That was emphasized in the original recipe, to keep them in the oven for 25 minutes or so until they are dry but not toasted. No oil is used.

Man, lucky squirrels!

An update on these canned pecans. I just opened one of those jars I put up last November. Those nuts were fantastic and tasted just as fresh as if I had just shelled them. Lots better than the ones I froze although those are good too. It's just that the canned ones are even better. From now on I'm canning them which will open up some space in the freezer too.

I was looking for walnut halves today and couldn't find any except at Walmart which only had 1.5 lb bags of them. We don't use a lot of walnuts but now that I've seen how good the canned pecans are, I'll buy that bag of walnuts while they're available and can them too since the recipe says the method works with all kinds of nuts.