So what are the wood types suitable for smoking?

[bigwheel]

Hey Honu...bet them black berry vines be very good as a smoke producer. Cant imagine they wouldnt be similar to grape vines which is real popular down here. Excellent flavor.

bigwheel

[honu41]

Hey BW,

Mahalo for the tip. I looked out on the back 40 (electric power tranmission right of way) yesterday and looks like a great crop is sprouting. I'll go harvest in a month or so and let it dry a bit.

I also have some wood from an"ornamental plum" that fell victim to some high winds, should be ready in a month.

Spoke with Ritch at Gator pit and my new pit will be ready for shipping by the end of next week. Yippee... so I be ready in a few weeks...

take care a hui hou,

[super8mm]

i just picked up a 2'x4'x18" stack of mesquite for tomorrow morning. i have done 3 cookings with charcoal and still have mixed feelings about it.

[egghead]

I didn't see sugar cane on the list. I use sugar cane on chicken and turkey - works well. I heard a guy talking about it on the radio a few years back and had to give it a try. Of course you have to have a source for sugar cane. Last year around harvest time in South Louisiana, I cut a bunch into 6 inch lengths and then split the pieces, into several ziplocks and put them in the freezer to store - it will rot if left out. I put six or eight pieces on the hot coals right before I put a chicken on.



Here are some stuffed wings with the sugar cane smoke




Turkey Breast

[JamesB]

Well, I gotta say that sugar cane is a new one to me! That grub looks good! Do you have to dry or season it in anyway? The sugar cane I', used to seeing is pretty moist.

[honu41]

Hey Egghead... Thanks for the info re: sugar cane. Seen stalks in the markets. The story of my life; "always late!" Growing up in Hawaii in a sugar plantation town the sugar mill would produce "bagasse", the fibrous remains of the sugar cane after the juice has been extracted. Some of it was burned to produce steam to run the mill and the rest dumped. The smokestacks from the mill produced a wonderful mild amd sweet smelling smoke. The bagasse was let to rot at the dump or spontaneous combustion would ignite it again producing that smoke.

Another by-product of industry in HI was pineapple bran, the dried pineapple peelings that was used as livestock feed. It also had a sweet smelling smoke.

But because of land values there are no sugar fields in HI anymore and the pineapple fields produce a fraction of pineapple bran. So that is why I made the earlier remark of being too late to make use of a resource that was under my nose!

In the south, I don't know what the sugar cane processors do with the stalks and residue from the sugar cane but if it is available try it. And for those who have fresh pineapple peels and the tops, leave out in the sun to dry and use it to smoke. You may like it...

a hui hou,

joe

[nbrdnck]

thanks for the ideas. i never new any of that about the sugar or pineapple i will do that my soon to be wife cuts up a pineapple every week and we just throw away the skinns and every thing.

[egghead]

Well, I gotta say that sugar cane is a new one to me! That grub looks good! Do you have to dry or season it in anyway? The sugar cane I', used to seeing is pretty moist.

I use it just like it is - you should try a few stalks at first then add some more till you get it like you like it. I once put a whole bunch on and the chicken more or less blackened. Looks different but it was juicy and eggcelent . Pulled when the thigh reached 185.

[egghead]

Growing up in Hawaii in a sugar plantation town the sugar mill would produce "bagasse", the fibrous remains of the sugar cane after the juice has been extracted. Some of it was burned to produce steam to run the mill and the rest dumped. The smokestacks from the mill produced a wonderful mild amd sweet smelling smoke. The bagasse was let to rot at the dump or spontaneous combustion would ignite it again producing that smoke.

a hui hou,

joe

Same outcome with the bagasse in Louisiana. Seems like at one time Johns Manville also used it to make fiber board. The best and biggest fishing worms in the neighborhood could be found by digging around the base of the bagasse piles - if you weren't careful one of those worms would grab you by the pants and try to pull you in the hole.

[honu41]

A very low structural strength fiberboard was also made from bagasse. But one of the more secretive product of the sugar industry was that the bagasse fields produce mushrooms that came out several days after a light rainfall.

joe

[Papa Tom]

Hmmmmm. I was in the wrong place I guess. When I lived in west Nebraska there was a lot of sugar production but it was sugar beets and they stunk. During the campaign the whole valley smelled.
Living there and smoking was a challenge for smoke I have used wild grape vines (good), corn cobs (OK distinctive but not something you'd want all the time), cotton wood (actually pretty good if you can control the fire), ash (I don't recommend it), locust (don't remember but I never used it again), hedge (Ok). They also grew a lot of cane for cattle feed I never tried it but I'll bet it would be good, we used to chew on it, sweet.

[Surfinsapo]

I don't see huisahce or chinese tallow listed.... j/k.. Great list

[honu41]

Hey PT... I used to chew alot of sugar cane!!! Could that be the reason why I have a bridge???

a hui hou,
joe

[simon]

what `bout hazelnut ?

have much hazelnut over here, and less hickory and absolutely no mesuqite oder pecan

But heared that hazelnut is similar to hickory. Anybody who knows that too ?

is it appropriate for a wood burning pit ?

How heavy is the flavor, must I be careful with oversmoke the meat ?

[OSD]

what `bout hazelnut ?

have much hazelnut over here, and less hickory and absolutely no mesuqite oder pecan

But heared that hazelnut is similar to hickory. Anybody who knows that too ?

is it appropriate for a wood burning pit ?

How heavy is the flavor, must I be careful with oversmoke the meat ?

Hazelnut wood is good for smoking with. It's similar to pecan or hickory when used for smoking. Flavor is good, but like hickory in can get bitter taste if oversmoked.