Like you, owners of pecan trees often find a sizable number of green pecans on the ground. Unfortunately, these pecans are not ripe and once off the tree will not ripen further. Within a few more weeks your pecans will be ripe enough to eat – as long as you can get to them before the squirrels.

How do you dry green pecans?

Premature or unripe pecans will be replete with moisture, and you’ll have to dry the nuts by spreading out the kernels in a screen or wire gauze sheet. Alternatively, you can put the pecan nuts inside a string bag or net bag and place the bag in a room that is dry and well-ventilated.

What to do with pecans that fall early?

Since some of the green pecans fell early they did not have enough time to ripen on the tree, so they may taste bitter and have a sticky, soft texture when broken open. You can attempt to peel and cure these pecans, if the husk is too difficult to peel then they are far too early and cannot be processed.