With the arrival of his firstborn daughter, a young father planted a nogal seedling. The land was barren and stony but the nogal thrived.
Two more daughters were born and, over time, the three sisters grew to play in the shade of the tree's broad branches, climbing, jumping, and staining their clothes with its caramel-colored sap. The girls gathered the tree's savory pecans, cracking them open and eating them as they played.
As time passed, the nogal grew majestic, spreading its branches and reaching higher into the sky until the next generation of this family played in its shade and gathered its dusty pecans. In the evenings, a grandmother would shell the pecans and add them to recipes for meals and desserts the family would enjoy together.My sisters and I left our pecan tree many years ago and now live in cities distant from this reality. Who knows who lives in that house today, and if on windy nights anyone can hear the sighs and creaks of our nogal or the laughter of children who've played in its shade.
One of the candies my mother made with the shelled pecans was nogada. I always took it for granted that someone would make nogada in the fall, that there would always be a plate of nogada to finish a meal in the winter. Darn! I never asked my mother for the recipe! I've had to experiment and to remember the sweet, nutty taste and the combination of ingredients: anise seed, piloncillo, cinnamon, and fresh pecans. It's taken several attempts, but I finally have it.
Nogada
Recipe Type: Dessert
Cuisine: Mexican
Author:
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 6
Nogada needs to be an opaque color rather than shiny. It's not a praline. For this to happen you need to continue to stir it a bit as you remove it from the heat and then stir in the pecans.
Ingredients:
- 4 cups of the freshest whole pecan halves you can find
- 2 large piloncillo (brown sugar) cones purchased from store that carries latino groceries
- 1 ½ cup water.
- 1 tablespoon anise seed
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions:
- Break up the piloncillo into manageable pieces and boil it in the water until it's at 'punto de bola', that is, when it you test it by dropping some in a glass of water and it forms a little ball rather than dissolving completely.
- This will take some time, about 20 minutes. Before it's completely thickened, add the anise and cinnamon.
- Remove it from the heat and stir for about a minute more until it stiffens even more. Stir in the pecans and spoon them on a wax paper until they cool off.
Hi Gilda,
ReplyDeleteI read your blog from time to time to read your stories and recipes. Recently I was in Laredo and decided to ride past our house. One of the first things I looked for was that pecan tree. I kind of stopped my car in the middle of the street shocked at the sight of our pecan tree.
I felt such sadness when I saw that it had 2 or three branches left. I remember it to be a huge tree with big sprawling branches. The tree looked so lonely and abandoned.
I remember how we used to climb the tree and one day Laura had put candies on the branches making me believe that the tree not only gave us pecans, but also candies....I really believed the tree put out candies!
I remember mom making her pecan candies with piloncillo. I may try making some candies.
Nora
Putting candies on the pecan tree was a trick I invented and then tried on Laura. She fell for it. So I see she liked it enough to keep up the tradition. Anyway, thanks for the update on the tree, although it makes me sad too. And thanks for using the recipes. That tree couldn't have lasted long without us taking care of it the way we did.
ReplyDelete