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Physical Characteristics of Pecan Components: Effect of Cultivar and Relative Humidity

Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org

Citation:  Paper number  036061,  2003 ASAE Annual Meeting . (doi: 10.13031/2013.14131) @2003
Authors:   Nachiket Kotwaliwale, Gerald H. Brusewitz, Paul W. Weckler
Keywords:   Pecan, Physical Properties, Specific Gravity

Physical characteristics of pecan nuts describing size, specific gravity, shell thickness, nutmeat to shell ratio are not only quality indicators but are also important for designing handling and processing equipment for pecans. Length, maximum and minimum diameters, and shell thickness of a pecan were measured for 30 samples of 'Native - A', 'Squirrels Delight', 'Maramek', and 'Native - B' cultivars equilibrated at 40% and 78% Rh. Length of pecan nuts varied from 29.3 to 45.2 mm, whereas maximum and minimum diameters around largest periphery varied from 23.9 to 16.3 and 21.1 to 10.0 mm, respectively. Specific gravity of pecan nuts, shell and nutmeat was determined by a water displacement method using a specific gravity bottle. Mean specific gravities were observed to be 0.837 for pecan nut; 1.065 for pecan shell; and 0.945 for pecan nutmeat. In general nutmeatto- shell ratio was greater than 1, the ratio being higher for the improved cultivars than natives.

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