Elliot Ellis began crawling through the branches of pecan trees when he was less
than ten years old. His father began farming pecans on 35 acres in Central
Georgia way back in 1944. Today, the Ellis family farm has grown to some 12
hundred acres and Elliott along with his sons Brad and Keith will harvest pecans
from more than 14 thousand trees. Georgia grows and processes some 60 million
pounds of pecans every year making it the number one pecan producer in the
nation.
Fun Fact The first explorers to the new world called pecans, “Wonder Walnuts”. Native Americans used pecans extensively as a food source and taught early pilgrims about the nut, leading to the first pecan pies. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson planted pecan trees on their plantations. And early colonists even enjoyed an intoxicating beverage made by fermenting the sweet meat of the pecan.
