Everything Is Bigger In Texas, Including This Record-Breaking Tree Nut

Texas is known for some amazing foods, such as barbecue, Tex-Mex, and pecan pie. That last one is closely tied to the state's identity, as the pecan is the official state tree. Texas can grow up to 70 million pounds of pecans in a good year. Your average pecan in the shell weighs just over 10 grams, which means Texas can grow well over 3 billion pecans annually. Unless, of course, they're the size of the famous pecans in Seguin, Texas. It's home to the world's biggest pecan measuring 16 feet by 8 feet. 

It's also home to the world's oldest, largest pecan, which is a totally different sculpture that weighs half a ton. Confused? Yeah, it's a bit nutty. Seguin is one of the oldest towns in all of Texas, and considers itself the pecan capital of the state. In 1958, a local dentist who grew pecans on his farm decided to celebrate the town's position by creating a giant pecan. At 5 feet long and 1,000 pounds, it definitely fit the bill.

In 1962, the giant pecan was put on display outside the Guadalupe County Courthouse, and for years it remained a roadside attraction. This was a testament to the town's claim as the pecan capital of Texas. But such a coveted title could not go uncontested for long, and in the 1980s, the town of Brunswick, Missouri, created its own massive pecan and took the title of world's largest pecan away from Seguin. A rivalry was born.

Brunswick considers itself the pecan capital of Missouri, even though Georgia is the state that grows the most pecans overall. Brunswick's giant concrete pecan was 12 feet by 7 feet and weighed 12,000 pounds. Some residents of the town gloated and mailed postcards to the Seguin Chamber of Commerce, showing off the size of their pecan. The people of Seguin would not stand for it. Years later, in 2011, after enduring taunts from Brunswick and stewing over its second-place status, Seguin took action. 

The Chamber of Commerce raised $5,000 in donations, and construction of a new pecan began. This pecan dwarfed Brunswick's pecan and clocked in at a massive 16 feet by 8 feet. The title of "World's Largest Pecan" had returned to Texas just years after the state baked the world's largest pecan pie. Incredibly, there's a third giant pecan in Seguin, and it dates back to 2002. John Pape decided to upgrade the giant pecan and make it mobile so he created an 11 foot long nut. But he didn't know that Brunswick had already taken the title at that time, so his wheeled pecan never became the biggest and had to settle for just being big in general.

As it stands now, Seguin is still the title holder. There's no evidence that Brunswick plans to challenge the title anytime soon, but it did take Seguin a number of years to get its status back. It's hard to say what the future may hold. Regardless of who has the world's largest pecan, both towns still have some impressive sculptures to show off — and, of course, treats such as pecan pie and lots of tasty types of pecans for any tourists who show up to see them.