Pecans – Black Spots On Meat

Q: What causes black spots on the meat of pecans, and if they are small spots, are they edible?

A: It’s likely feeding damage from stinkbugs. In August, the insects stick their hollow snouts through the shell into a pecan nutmeat and suck some of the juice out of the immature kernel.

Stink bug control begins with insecticide sprays in early summer, when the young insects are first present. You’ve eaten many similar spots on apples and pears so I don’t feel there’s any danger in eating pecans with a few dark spots.