In praise of the buttery sweetness of pecans

I took my first bite of a raw pecan and thought—this is exactly what you'd get if a cashew and a walnut had a baby.

- NANDITA IYER

Pecans take the best from both: the sweet butteriness of a cashew and the earthy nuttiness of a walnut.

Until now, my encounters with pecans had been in pecan pies or a brownie, but this is one nut that scores a perfect ten, even when raw and untoasted. It also has an inherent crisp texture that avoids one of the most annoying traits of most nuts when eaten raw—that tendency of getting stuck between your teeth.

For years, nuts have been high on the shopping list of Indians visiting the US—and I'm clearly not alone in thinking so. When I asked my Instagram audience what tops their "must-buy" list from the US (given that you can find almost everything here these days), pecans and walnuts emerged as clear favourites. And with good reason: the quality is excellent, and the prices can be far more attractive than in India.