Fruit woods

[jonboat]

Another newbie question...

I have an apple tree, a cherry tree, and a peach tree. Can I use the branches (mostly small ones) that I trim off them every year for smoking? If I can, can I leave the bark on? Do I need to soak them?

probably seem pretty basic, but I'm still clueless.

 

[flash]

all three of them would be great. As long as the barks are not deeply furrowed, I would think there should be no problem with the bark being left on. As to soaking, I do, but many do not. Give it a try both ways and form your own opinion.

 

[mballi3011]

Well heck you have all 3 of my favorite smoking woods in your back yard. I would just cut them down and smoke them. LOL

 

[meatball]

I use wood that still has the bark (and just small branch trimmings) with no issues. Sounds like you have quite an orchard and you'll be stocked with some great smoking woods.

 

[badfrog]

Very nice! I am with Mballi... three of my favorites! and right there in your back yard...
I do not soak, just a personal preferance. I love to cook my ribs on fruitwood!!

 

[disbe81]

No, absolutely not! What you need to do is trim them, and mail all trimmings to me so i can put in my compost pile!

 

[fire it up]

You can absolutely use them for smoking, just be sure to let them dry first.
If they are small enough they should be good to go in about 6 months.
Personally I don't soak my wood and see no reason to but you could and it wouldn't hurt but why bother with an extra step?
As for the bark, some woods I make sure to remove the bark from and some it isn't that big of a deal.
With those woods I would not worry about the apple, the cherry remove it if you can but again not too big of a deal. I do remove the bark from my peach because it tends to give off some very white heavy smoke.

 

[jonboat]

Great stuff guys!!!! Looks like I'm ahead of the game with fruit woods.
Next question is, can walnut be used for smoking? I cut down an english walnut tree last summer and still have plenty of the wood piled up out back - also, what about maple?

 

[meatball]

Jonboat, you should check out the woods for smoking sticky here: http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...t=50439&page=7

According to that English walnut can be pretty heavy, but is fine when mixed with other woods. But, you'll find all your wood details on that thread for sure.

 

[ak1]

I would think so. I just bought some Grill Kicker cartridges, one walnut & one pecan.

Maple is great, that's what I use most of the time.