The Legacy

article by Rebekah Barnes | photography by Emerald McIntyre

NESTLED IN OUACHITA PARISH on Highway 80 East, the Louisiana Pecan Shelling Company calls our community home. The business also houses antiques and is part-recycling company. While general manager Abraham Lincoln Fowler doesn’t sell his antiques, and is very serious about recycling, he’s best known for his family’s pecan legacy. For generations, the Fowler family has fostered their passion for all things pecan.

In the 1840’s, Abraham’s ancestors started a confectionery business in Vicksburg, Mississippi. The business was closed due to the outbreak of the Civil War. The new occupants first bottled Coca-Cola in the same location. The family continued to produce candy by special order until a distant cousin opened a shop in Edwards, Mississippi, on Old Highway 80 known as “Lou’s Candy Kitchen.” This shop operated until Lou died.

Abraham’s father, Abraham Lincoln Fowler, Sr., opened the Louisiana Pecan Shelling Company in 1939 in Vicksburg, Mississippi, formerly named Abe Fowler and Sons (or more locally known as Fowler Pecans). Being the eldest son, Abraham learned a lot about pecans from his dad, becoming heavily involved in the company after Fowler, Sr. passed away. The company had forty-five locations. Abraham worked with his father as a child and he fondly recalls him answering the phone at the original location in Vicksburg: “Dad would answer and say, ‘Nuthouse, Head Nut speaking.” Abraham notes with fondness one of Fowler’s original, hand-painted signs that hangs on the wall designating the original name, even though this newest location has only been open for fifteen years. This sign was used by Fowler about eighty years ago as advertising and would hang on the side of his truck as he drove door-to-door in rural areas and bought pecans. The company still sends trucks out to orchards to purchase pecans. Back then, Fowler’s truck also served as the weigh station: a cotton slide scale rested in the bed of the truck and Fowler would weigh and buy pecans on the spot.

The sign isn’t the only aged remnant in the store; the company houses Abraham’s antique collection and stepping inside is like a step back in time. Antiques cover every surface of the small, quaint store and customers buy pecans and pecan candies while perusing old farm tools and various symbols of the past, such as the hand-forged shingle froe, old butter churns and cast iron skillets that adorn the walls. The general store feel inside must be akin to the original Vicksburg home of Louisiana Pecan, as if frozen in the early twentieth century. The feeling it brings is a sense of nostalgia for an simpler time.

The antiques in Abraham’s possession add to the atmosphere surrounding the Louisiana Pecan Shelling Company: one of family and home. This family feeling is even more pronounced by the company’s regular customers, who greet Abraham and Lavon as old friends, and by the homey recipes found in the company’s Recipe Book and online Recipe’s page: Banana Pecan Pancakes, Cherry Pecan Brie, Smoked Trout Pecan Spread and a tried and true Pecan Pie. The pecan candies also add a bit of that close-knit atmosphere. The confectionery portion of the business focuses on a wide variety of pecan candies. While the company consistently makes eighteen different pecan candies, such as amaretto chocolate, honey roasted, bourbon flavored or coconut butter rum, they are continually making new and innovative flavors, like their sweet and spicy roast, which is savory with a little kick at the end. It is public knowledge that Louisiana Pecan Shelling Company has the BEST pecans. The Louisiana pecan is the namesake of the business, because the company specializes in the small, oil-filled Louisiana nut that is full of flavor and ideal for candy-making or cooking. However, Louisiana Pecan Company does offer an assortment of different varieties of pecans.

The busiest time of year for the company is around the holidays, but they are open year ‘round. Abraham’s knowledge of pecans is extensive and detailed in his narration of the year revolving around pecans: “Depending on the weather, trees usually begin to bloom in March and picking begins in April and lasts until around September or October.” Louisiana Pecan purchases most of its pecans from orchards, but often gladly buys from the public. Customers will bring pecans to the business to sell, or for shelling or cracking. Louisiana Pecan is the most competitive with its prices for these services, as it offers custom cracking of small pecans for 35 cents/lb or 25 cents/lb for the large ones. It also semi-shells for an additional 30 cents. Currently, Louisiana Pecan is offering to pay 80 cents/lb for small pecans and up to $1.50/lb for the large ones. While its rates are competitive and its popularity is unparalleled, both online and in-store, the amount of love and work that goes into processing the pecans is what makes this company unique.

When Abraham was eight years old, his first job was to operate the pecan sorting machine: he was to fill the machine with pecans, which then sorted them by size, from smallest to largest. After the pecans are sorted, they are then cracked or shelled. The cracking machine cracks pecans at a rate of 90 pecans per minute! All of the half-cracked pecans are then sorted again: they are poured into a funnel shaped, screen-lined sorter where small pieces and bad pecans are hand-picked out, and then the favorable pecans are bagged for customers and sold by the pound at the front counter (prices vary by orchard). Each pecan is inspected for quality by the company’s dedicated employees. Besides in-store services, like cracking and shelling, Louisiana Pecan Company also offers on-site pecan sorting and purchase; however, unlike with Fowler, Sr., the old sign stays in the store. The pecan business is labor intensive, but rewarding, as Louisiana Pecan processes up to 2-3 MILLION pounds of pecans per season. That’s nuts!

Adjacent to Louisiana Pecan is the recycling portion of the store. Abraham pays the most for aluminum in Ouachita Parish because he is an avid recycler and wants other people to recycle, too. Abraham makes his living off the fruit of the environment and recycling is his way of giving back. And while the store is open year ‘round, recycling takes up their time during the off months when the holidays have slowed and the pecans aren’t ripe for picking. This family-built company on Highway 80 East is an aged treasure with unparalleled character. Its rich history, intimate atmosphere and friendly employees truly make Louisiana Pecan a gem of Ouachita Parish.

Louisiana Pecan offers gift baskets as well as shelled and/or cracked pecans in 5lb or 3lb boxes. Or fill custom tins with pecans or pecan candies for a truly special gift! Louisiana Pecan will also ship upon request. For more consumer and nutritional info, please visit www.louisianapecanshelling.com.