In Shell Natural Pecans - 5 lb. Box - NOT Polished

There is nothing like the taste of pecans straight out of the shell! I grew up with pecan trees on our property and I know that not every nut is perfect especially if eaten out of season. Buying in shell pecans out of season is always a risk and there will always be a few pecans that are not eatable no matter what. I almost did not order because of the negative reviews. If you want perfect pecans buy them already shelled. When the box arrived I weighed the pecans. they weighed 81 oz without packaging. I saved all the nuts that were not eatable (Yes! I saved them to prove a point). The uneatable pecans weighed 1.85 oz. That is a very good ratio for in shell nuts!!! I found this to be a good bargain for the price. I ordered more today.

I was looking for dietetary nuts and found the cheapest ones on Amazon from Western Mixers, packed in 5 lbs boxes. Knowing that nuts in shells can be stored safely up to 6 months and beyond, I ordered 2 boxes to save on combined shipping. It was my first purchase made on Feb 5-th this year. They arrived in few days and I found them looking old and grey, about 15-20% of shells partly broken, light smell of mold was often detectable and about 2-3 percent were completely spoiled. I was not impressed but I accepted them because the cheapest price. When I was about to finish my second box about July 5-th, I returned to Amazon pages, found my initial purchase and re-ordered next two boxes - total 10 lbs. I opened the first box. Inside cardboard box found the plastic polyethylene bag hermetically sealed. After opening bag, the pecans inside were of the same, rather poor but acceptable quality, I would give them 3 stars if I was writing review that time. Another few months passed before I finished first box and opened the second one. After hermetically sealed bag was cut open the strong smell of mold filled the room. The strange looking yellow mold was covering heavily about 20 percent of nuts in the bag. Most mold was found on nuts with cracked shells, often following the crack lines. There was no single nut without at least some marks of mold on shell. After they arrived, the nuts were stored all the time in room temperatures on shelf in perfectly dry environment (it was a summer in Bakersfield, CA), one box beside the other, in the same place the first two boxes were stored half a year earlier. For me the problem was obvious. Old and poor quality nuts were somehow contaminated with yellow mold and sealed before they were allowed to dry properly. My local mold spores if ever existed, had no way to penetrate through sealed plastic - they were imported with nuts. First bag show no signs of deterioration up to the last nut, because nuts were removed from plastic and dried fast in my storage room, on the back of the kitchen. I immediately contacted the seller and exchanged three letters with them. They were represented by the same lady who categorically refused to take any responsibility for quality of nuts, way of packaging and contamination with mold. She called their nut "perishable", with only 30 days warranty. She insisted that it was certainly my fault and refused to even consider changing their handling routine and reward me with sending free another package as replacement of nuts which I could only throw to garbage. To better document my review, I am attaching a couple of photos which I took few minutes after opening the bag,using my phone camera. Carton shipping box is in pristine condition, there was no reason to have about 20% of nuts with cracked shells. Mold speaks for itself. I told the lady, that if she see no problem, I need to report it on Amazon to warn the customers and contact the Food and Drug authorities with request to look closer at their business. Bottom line - if you are looking for lowest possible price and plan to open package immediately after arrival, there is a good chance nuts will be only slightly smelling mold and you should not get poisoned by mold. This is my guess based on my experience. I do not waste my time writing about many so so purchases. I am grabbing the pen only if I purchased something very good, very interesting or I found a cheap and near perfect way of using the product for another application. This time I needed to write review to warn other customers. Such attitudes should be not tolerated on Amazon. Unfortunately reporting to Amazon did not help. They have no time for small things and 30 day warranty is all they can do. Direct warning of prospective buyers was the only available choice to help Western Mixers with changing their attitude.

Very pleased with my order. They came nicely packaged. They're big & fresh and have excellent flavor. Highly recommend purchasing these. Great price too.

Wish I had noticed the shipping charges which were outrageous! But product was as described and arrived in timely fashion

The pecans was so darn good and fresh. They arrived on time. I would definitely order some more and recommend to friends and family.

Sent them as a gift to my brother as a birthday gift. He sent me a picture. It was a great buy. He said the pecans were full and tasty, just like he would have gotten if he was here at home.

We were only using them for the squirrels, so they were fine. When I tried to eat one, it tasted like it was several years old. so I tried again, same thing. That was a lot of $ to spend on something no better than what we could have bought in any store for half the amount. We wanted them in the shell for squirrels.

Prior to making order I sent a message asking what is the best time to order their pecans. I also stated that if this order was not fresh like the first that this would be my last order. I think that they are from a previous year. My house guest stated the same. My first order a few years ago tasted like they came from heaven unlike this time