Texas Pecan Pies :
History , Memories and Recipes
The pecan is as fabled as any symbol of Texas . Archeological excavations show the tree existed along the Rio Grande since prehistoric times and is the only nut bearing tree indigenous to North America . When the Spanish explorer Cabeza de Vaca was captured by the native tribes and traded across Texas as a shaman for nearly a decade , he incorrectly identified the nut as a “ nueces ,” or “ walnut ” in Spanish . The indigenous peoples called it “ pacane ,” translated as “ a nut that must be cracked with a stone ,” and is pronounced in the Texan dialect remarkably close to its original sound . In his diaries , the starving de Vaca credited the pecan with helping keep him alive , and lamented the tree ’ s pattern of skipping nut production every other year .
Gov . James Stephen Hogg – the first native-born governor of Texas – famously loved his pecans and on his deathbed he instructed his family : “ I don ’ t want when I die any cold marble placed at the head of my grave . I want a soft-shell pecan tree planted there … and the nuts sent out to the farmers of Texas that they may plant them .” In 1916 , 10 years after his death , the pecan was designated the state tree . In 2001 , the pecan became the state ’ s official nut and in 2013 the pecan pie was named the bonafide state pie of Texas . In the crazy quilt called Texas history , the pecan claims a major square , or maybe “ round ,” because nowhere does the pecan perform best than in a pie . So when two local ladies with deep connections to pies and pecans agrede to share their stories-and their recipes , it was a blessing . Texas holiday cooking , after all , would be lost without pecan pie .
Cathy Campbell – the matriarch of the near-century old Campbell ’ s Pecans in Commerce – points out there are hundreds of uses for pecans besides pies and begins to name a few but quickly shifts focus back to pies .
“ Well , Daddy was always the pie maker in our family .”
Some people may not know , but Campbell is the daughter of famed East Texas State University coach Ernest Hawkins who once led the Lions to a national championship and for whom the TAMUC football field is named .
“ Pecans were big in my life even before I married into the Campbell family ,” she said .
Ernest Hawkins was a Texas Tech graduate with a degree in agriculture , said Campbell .
GREENVILLE LIFE 15 HOLIDAY 2024