Pecan Milk Is the Perfect Mix-In for Warm Fall Beverages
It has the same rich flavor that makes pecans the star of butter pecan ice cream and pecan pie.
Pecana
It seems like there’s always a new plant-based milk popping up in grocery stores. You can find extra creamy oat milk, cashew milk and even pea milk, but the non-dairy milk that’s the source of my newest obsession is Pecana, an exceptionally creamy, rich and flavorful pecan milk.
The first sip of Pecana’s original flavor was a revelation: a nut milk that actually tasted of its namesake ingredient. It had the same trademark buttery quality and rich flavor that makes pecans the star of butter pecan ice cream and pecan pie. I tried it poured over my mom’s homemade granola, and it made for the most satisfying bowl of cereal I’ve ever had. Pecana amplified the taste of the granola’s pecans and toasted oats.
I’m also enamored with the unsweetened vanilla flavor of Pecana. It’s just as delicious as the original, but a touch sweeter thanks to the addition of vanilla, not added sweetener. I blended the vanilla pecan milk into my morning smoothie, where its sweetness nicely complemented the bananas and strawberries, and its rich, creamy texture helped mask the chalky texture of protein powder. It made a welcome addition to my afternoon iced coffee—just the sort of pick-me-up that feels like a treat without being too sweet. And when I subbed it into my favorite banana bread recipe, I found that it added a pleasant toasty note and yielded a loaf with an extra-tender crumb.
I had to know more—what made this nut milk so mind-bendingly good?
Pecana
Pecana is the brainchild of Kortney Chase, a third-generation pecan farmer who grew up running around her father’s pecan orchards in New Mexico. The idea to create a pecan milk had been simmering on the back burner for several years, and during COVID, she decided to finally test the idea. “I tasted it and it was an aha moment!” Chase says. “I couldn’t let it go. I became obsessed with the process.”
All told, it took Chase 10 years to perfect the formula that produced a pecan milk that is extremely creamy, rich and that tasted of pecans. The star of Pecana pecan milk? Chase Farms ultra-premium pecans—a varietal lauded for its naturally buttery-ness, rich taste and slight natural sweetness. The pecan milk achieves its remarkable creaminess and depth of flavor thanks to a higher-than-average ratio of nuts to liquid as compared to other alt-milks.
Pecana
The latest product in the Pecana line-up is praline, which is naturally sweetened with organic brown sugar and molasses. Next, Chase envisions expanding the Pecana product line to include pecan milk creamers. “I’m promoting something that is so foundational to who I am. I get to go around and talk about America, my family, farming and pecans,” Chase says. “Pecana is the product of that. It’s so special for me because it’s something that generations past helped me do.”
You can purchase Pecana’s original and vanilla pecan milks online as well as select grocery stores, including Erewhon, Gelson's, HEB, Albertsons, United Supermarkets and Stella’s Fine Market.
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