This industrial strength nutcracker is available from Amazon. The review at Amazon says that this one doesn’t work so well.
My high school US history teacher invented a pecan cracker. As I remember it was a block of wood with a metal plate and different sized indentations in the surface to hold different sizes of nuts. Then, you had a hammer-like instrument with which you hit the pecan. It was supposed to shatter the shell and leave the nut whole, but it didn’t work for me. I think I hit my finger with the hammer-thing. I can’t find a picture of Mr. Barth’s nutcracker anywhere on the internet, so I’m guessing it didn’t go over too well with the general pecan-shelling public.
About the time my history teacher was using class time to show us his invention, the newest thing in nutcrackers was the “inertia nutcracker.” You sort of shoot the nut in an enclosed area (very unsportsmanlike), and the shell explodes off leaving the nutmeat –in theory.
The last picture shows the kind of nutcracker we used when I was a kid —minus the red rubber grips. I didn’t like it very much either. A brick or a rock and the sidewalk were more convenient and just as effective.
Nowadays I shell my own pecans, but I buy them cracked. The pecan grower or wholesaler has this big machine into which they dump the pecans, and the machine cracks the shells. All I have to do at home is to pull the shell off and enjoy the fruit inside. I could label my pecans: No household nutcrackers were used in the preparation of these tasty pecan treats —only fingers. I use nutcrackers for decoration.
P.S. I like Tschaikovsky’s Nutcracker music, but it’s way overdone this time of year. And I think the story of the ballet is scary, nightmare-inducing.
For more Works-for-me Wednesday links, visit Shannon at Rocks in my Dryer. (I wonder if she’s ever found any pecans in her dryer? I certainly have in mine.)
Pecans… yummy!
We use good old fashioned finger power around here!!
Thanks for a great post…I always enjoy reading your
WFMW postings!
Blessings!
Tracy
Found an old cookbook yesterday with lots of recipes using pecans. I can attest to the deliciousness of the cheese puffs, the strawberry nut salad, and the dump cake!
My Mom has an old fashioned nutcrack with these sharp little things that get the meat out. It works great. Sometimes I agree, the new fangled gadgets just don’t work well. My husband uses his pliers…go figure!
We use the old fashioned kind that is just two handles and you place the nut in the middle. I love this time of year as we always used to get large bags of mixed nuts from my dad’s work every Christmas and as kids this was the only time we really had them. Now I rarely buy them in the summer but when fall/winter rolls around I love getting them and cracking them open and savoring each bite.
Don’t include me in your drawing, okay? I’d feel terrible about anyone paying overseas shipping. We’ll eat walnuts! But in the meantime, thinking about pecans brings back lots of Florida panhandle memories for me!