Go Nuts for Mesilla Pecans

IT MAY SOUND NUTTY, but Kristen Worthington knew almost nothing about pecans before moving her family from California’s Sacramento Valley to Mesilla Park in 2019 to start a pecan farm. “In fact, I thought they were a lot like walnuts,” she says. “When I tried my first pecans, I thought, Oh my goodness.” Worthington dove into a three-day crash course on pecan farming methods and started talking to every farmer she could. “I’m still learning,” she says. Her gamble paid off with Worthington Farms, which now sells a popular line of flavored pecans—Butter Pecan is a bestseller—and various pecan products. “My favorite is the red-chile-flavored pecans,” she says. “I’m a green chile girl, but they’re phenomenal.” Other innovative products include creamy pecan butter, made with toasted pecans and pecan oil; melt-in-your-mouth pecan brittle; and a butter pecan syrup that will make your pancakes sing. The Premium Pecan Oil is rich in antioxidants and bursting with pecan flavor. Worthington runs the farm with help from her family, which includes her son, daughter, sister, and brother-in-law. “It’s been such an enjoyable process for us,” she says. “My favorite thing to do is walk out among the pecans. It takes the stress away.”