Pecan pie is just one of the many delicious foods made with pecans.
Texas is among one of the five top pecan producing states in the United States. This makes pecans a popular Texas food gift and export. Depending on the vendor, you have the option of purchasing prepackaged gift baskets with one or more pecan items, or create your own pecan gift basket by filling it with an assortment of pecan food items. Prepackaged pecan gifts might come in trays, tins, buckets, baskets or decorative bags.
Pecan Oil
Pecan oil has less saturated fat than olive oil. Use it to make salad dressing, as dipping oil and for cooking, as you might use another vegetable oil. Virgin pecan oil is a healthy, gourmet oil.
Pecans
The most basic of pecan food gifts is the pecan itself. They are available in a number of forms, including whole, chopped, shelled halves, cracked whole pecans, minced pecans, and pecans ground into pecan meal.
Candy
For those with a sweet tooth, include pecan candy in your Texas pecan gift. Depending on which vendor you use, candied pecan might include praline pecan, butterscotch pecan, bourbon praline pecans, chocolate toffee pecans, chocolate turtle pecans, pecan log, yogurt pecans, honey toasted pecans, milk chocolate pecans, pecan brittle, cinnamon pecans, dark chocolate pecans and chocolate amaretto pecans.
Seasoned
Gift pecans options included spiced up pecans, such as jalapeno-roasted pecans, mesquite-roasted pecans, salted pecans, roasted pecans and honey-roasted pecans. Some gift packages include pecans mixed with other nuts. Gift trays might include a selection of differently seasoned pecans, or a combination of seasoned pecans with candied or unseasoned pecans.
Pecan Butter
Add a jar of pecan butter to the gift basket. Use it like peanut butter to top not just bread, but cookies, pancakes or other baked items. While you can purchase plain pecan butter, you can also purchase it in other flavors, such as orange pecan butter, toffee pecan butter, cinnamon pecan butter, maple pecan butter and praline pecan butter.
Sauces and Syrups
It wouldn't be a Texas food gift without barbecue sauce, and some Texas pecan gift vendors offer pecan barbecue sauce. There is also pecan syrup for your pancakes and waffles, and a pecan jelly for your breakfast bread.
Cakes
For the traditional fruit cake for the holiday, look for a Texas fruitcake prepared with pecans. If a fruitcake doesn't appeal to you, there are other Texas gift cake options featuring the pecan, such as the fudge cake or Texas pecan cake.
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