Kingsford charcoal

[smokeguy]

I was watching the Unwrapped TV show titled "BBQ" (http://www.foodnetwork.com/unwrapped/bbq/index.html for upcoming shows) and one of the places he visited was the Kingsford plant at Springfield Oregon about 4 minutes into the show. They show this big pile of wood chips ready and waiting and then the spokesman says that the pile is made up of Fir Wood, Cedar and Alders.

I went to Kingsford's site and sure enough, it just says that the briquets are made of 100% wood and 100% natural; nothing about hardwood unless it's added in like the + hickory briquets. The only thing that talks about being made out of hardwood is the lump (they call it charwood) and that is only available in the southern states.

Even the competition briquettes are just all natural and wood, but not hardwood.

I guess since they turn it into char first (and then add coal, so now it's charcoal) it cooks out all the sap and resins...

 

[coffee_junkie]

Totally unrelated but I used to hunt ducks and geese that flew off the kingsford pond and headed toward the river...I love that place.

 

[hog warden]

You can get spoiled when you have the ability to drive to the kiln location and pick up charcoal from the warehouse where it's made:



The charcoal from these guys is made from slabs of hardwood (almost 100% oak) saved at sawmills. The slabs are the bark and pith wood the mills saw off the outside of the round tree to square it up. Large bundles of these slabs are stacked into into large kilns, is cooked into charcoal, then pulverized into lumps and bagged.

Burns clean, hot and long. By comparision, I snagged a bag of Cowboy lump recently and found remnants of square cut pine boards, and later on, rocks in the ash. Started faster, burned up faster, smoked more and produced less heat.

Yes, you can get spoiled.