For a family who doesn’t grow any pecans of their own, the Roby family of Brownwood Texas really loves pecans. Rodney, the family patriarch was in attendance at a recent meeting of the Texas Pecan Board. Rodney serves on the Early Texas Chamber of Commerce who was hosting the meeting, and during the lunch break was taking with several of the board members and said, “My family just loves pecans, we eat them all the time.”
Now you might think that Rodney was just being nice or playing the part of the good host. Or you might think that because his middle daughter Heather, is the reigning Miss Texas Pecan Queen. Or you might think that because the annual Texas Pecan Festival is held every November in Early to celebrate the goodness of pecans and to highlight their place in good health and nutrition that he might be plugging pecans because he thinks it is good for business.
After all, pecans have had an impact on the local community for years with the Poge Pecan Field station, where many of the cultivars now in production were developed, located just about a mile from the annual Pecan Festival site. So it is natural to assume that Rodney is saying that his family loves pecans like you might say ‘my family really loves hamburgers.’ But wait till you hear the rest of the story…
Rodney’s youngest daughter, Melanie, was born with Spina Bifida, a debilitating condition where an infant’s spinal cord and nervous tissue isn’t completely formed or enclosed, leading to a host of additional ailments throughout their lifetimes. Melanie was no exception. Her life has been a series of trips from one medical facility to another. She was also plagued with numerous infections over the years leading to scores of antibiotic treatments.
Of course, antibiotics were considered a wonder drug when they first came out, but just like any good thing, too much of it can lead to other complications. Such was the case with Melanie’s condition. A few years ago Melanie came close to death as a result of an immune system that had virtually shut down. That’s when Melanie’s mom, Connie Roby said, “there has got to be a better way.” From that time on she set about learning all that she could about nutrition and homeopathic remedies to avoid the use of so much antibiotics.
“Did you know, that the flora of your digestive track makes up about 70% of your immune system?” she said with some enthusiasm. She went on, “We depend on the good flora in our digestive systems to keep everything in balance, and if you don’t then the same bacteria that brings about our body’s decay when we die begins to run rampant. In fact, did you know that there are more microorganisms in your body than your body has cells of its own? We are outnumbered in our on bodies.”
“Because the antibiotics we take to stop an infection kill off both good and bad microorganisms and the result is a system that is out of balance. It is like spraying your entire yard with Roundup to kill a few weeds, you may get the bad ones but you are going to take out a lot of the good ones in the process,” she said.
Connie isn’t against traditional medicine; she is really more about balance and eating things that are healthy. Her family pays very strict attention to the intake of sugars and starches and instead makes use of alternatives. “We use no grain products in our diet, mostly because of concerns over the genetic modification of the grains these days and the starch content. Instead I like to use nut meals that I make myself.”
Connie says that pecans make wonderful meal for muffins. “You don’t even have to add any oil to the mix and they come out so moist and tender, Rodney just loves them.” She makes the meal in her blender and says the trick to making your own pecan meal is to know when to quit, before the meal turns to pecan butter. (Of course, pecan butter happens to be pretty good on its own.)
Another pecan recipe that she loves to make are pecans that have been coated with a mixture of honey, vanilla extract, cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg. No, this isn’t just rolling the nuts in a sticky coating; Connie is very particular how she makes this delicious snack. The most important aspect is keeping the temperature right during the preparation process, too high and the beneficial enzymes will be destroyed.
“I began by soaking the raw pecans in cool water for just four hours. That gets rid of the powdery and sometimes bitter taste and most importantly it activates the enzymes that occur during the germination process.” (A similar germination process is used in the making of certain types of whisky to release the enzymatic response.) “After I soak the pecans I dry them off on a towel and put them in the dehydrator that is set at 108 degrees and keep them there till they are dry, then coat them with my honey mixture. We keep them around all the time for a snack.”
The results of Connie’s research and work on making her family’s diet more healthy and balanced shows. Melanie still has to make regular trips to Dallas and the doctors are amazed how good she looks. “Most people who are confined to a wheelchair as much as she is tend to become heavy,” says Connie. “But since we have gotten off of sugars and starches and have substituted more nuts like pecans in our diet, we have all slimmed down, particularly around the waist.”
The six members of the Roby family go through about 150 pounds of pecans a year. Connie buys them up in the fall and keeps them in the freezer until she needs them. “The dehydrated pecans are a great way for families to start to wean themselves off of a high sugar and starch diet,” she said. And Connie has become somewhat of a fanatic about healthy eating.
She began this quest because of a need her daughter had to find an alternative to the massive amount of antibiotics she had to take. Working with a homeopathic physician got her started on this path, but now Connie has begun to research and write a book on healthy diets for families. “This has made such a huge difference for us I just want to share this with other families who want to eat more balanced diets.”
Rodney says, “We are really happy to have help from the Texas Pecan Board and all the good information they supply about the health aspects of pecans in putting together our annual Early Pecan Festival, but you know if they weren’t around I think my wife would be out here preaching the praises of pecans.” There’s no doubt about it, the Robys really do love their pecans.

(If you would like to know more about some of her recipes or about the book she is writing, you can contact Connie at croby29@msn.com)