Tree Identification

It may have been moldy when you bought it.

I've had the same thing happen to me with a bag fresh from the store.
That's why I like the W.W. Wood from Wally World.
It comes in mesh bags and you can see if it's moldy.

-YB

YardBurner wrote:

It may have been moldy when you bought it.

I've had the same thing happen to me with a bag fresh from the store.
That's why I like the W.W. Wood from Wally World. It comes in mesh bags and you can see if it's moldy.

-YB

No, that's why this sucks so much, LOL. These came in 2 mesh bags from a restaurant. They looked perfect. I opened them both up. Now they all have white on it. I was so excited to finally get it and it's junk now, a couple of months later

I just am trying to figure out what to do with the wood I buy next time.

I know this is all about smoking woods... What about cooking over open fire?
Is cedar, fir, pine and other native Northwest woods bad???

I have been eating hot dogs and burgers cooked over open fires most of my life and have never felt the flavor of the wood was bad.

Am I killing myself everytime I eat a burger cooked over an open fire if it has some fir in it?

Ritch

You're not killing yourself.

Avoiding conifers is due to the acrid and bitter smoke they produce. The wood contains a high amount of resin even after seasoning. (fat wood)

Given enough oxygen (like a campfire) it burns hot and relatively clean but when smouldering in a smoker
it can get pretty nasty.

A long time ago I played around with some fir and chix thighs. Let's just say the result was disapointing .

-YB

Once the fire has stopped blazing and you've got a nice bed of coals, the resins have bubbled out of the wood and burnt up. So I think cooking over the coals would be OK. But, if you're getting a black tar, soot buildup on your food, yuck, you'd know it.

Most certainly don't use these in a fireplace or smoker because the buildup of soot & tar will have ill effect on both.

Ritch,

like yourself I'm up here in the great Pacific Northwest. For years since 1978 I've heated our home in our fireplace insert wood stove to offset the high price of baseboard electric heaters. We have since removed all the baseboard heaters and upgraded to a modern efficient heat pump.

But I still prefer the dry bone penetrating heat of a good wood fire. In those years when I heated almost exclusively with wood I went to the woods with my USFS wood cutting permit and cut split and stacked around eight cord a year.

I did both soft (fir, pine, tamarack & cedar) and hard woods (oak, alder, maple, chinqupin, apple, pear, and cherry). All the soft woods are from trees that do not produce leaves. All these species produce copious amounts of resin and turpentines. These woods will all burn hotter and faster than the hardwoods.

I submit that these woods when used in a campfire to cook burgers, franks or marshmellows quickly there is little or no harm done. It's when you build a fire with them then shut the air down till they begin to smoke that you will begin to have health & taste issues. The copious amounts of resins and creasote contained in all the needle bearing trees (conifers) will begin to condense out of the smoke and produce a film of creasote and soot on your food stuffs. This stuff is really dangerous (cancerous)

Thats why almost anybody in the know will never advise you that it's okay to smoke food using any conifer. It's another matter entirely using a cedar plank to lay your salmon fillet on while smoking. Your typically not charring the plank. The aromatic cedar oils are mixing and mingling with the salmon to produce a sublte taste effect that many enjoy.

Near as I can tell all the hardwoods are decidious trees (leaf bearing I think)
Hope sharing some of what I've learned about wood has been of some help.

thanks for confirming what I already expected. and no I do not eat black sooty hotdogs unless its because they were to close to the coals
then the boys will often get them after they cool down a little.

But my older larger dog LOVES marshmellows he will do almost anything for them.

Ritch

Please, what is a conifer?

I fire up some coals in a chimney, throw 'em on my CharGriller and throw a few 4"x4" or so chunks of mesquite on top of the charcoal and grill from there. That's ok, correct? So long as it isn't one of those conifer types of woods?

I posted above awhile back about a whole bunch of mesquite that has developed a white mossy looking substance on the bark of the majority of the pieces. I scraped off the mossy parts of the bark as another member suggested and grilled with it. I'm still breathing.

I'd still like to know what to look out for if this is ok stuff or not so good on that mesquite. I can take a dig image if that would help anyone.

Any help appreciated. Thank you.

"Q" Conifers are any tree that bears needles instead of leaves. Like any Christmas tree type. Some examples might be pine trees, fir, spruce, tamarack …trees that bear leaves instead of needles are deciduous trees. Some examples would be oak, maple, hickory I think you get the idea. Most conifers do not lose their needles in the winter. Tamarack would be the exception. Most deciduous trees do lose their leaves in the winter. In my home state of Texas there was an exception. Live Oak kept their leaves in the winter ( I think).

I have no idea what the white stuff on your mesquite is but if I had to guess I’d guess that it might be some kind of mildew or moss. In any event if you can get it off I would if it’s not too much trouble. On the other hand if it hasn’t tainted your taste buds or it hasn’t caused you to twitch uncontrollably in church then maybe it’s something you don’t have to worry about.

Thank you, C. Piper. Excellent, got it straightened out now as per the tree types.

I'm living down here in your home state of Texas. I'll have to keep an eye out for those live oaks and its leaves.

Will continue to cut off that moss. I'll have to find a way to prevent the stuff next time.

Thanks again.

I have quite a few live oaks in my yard, and you are correct, they hold their leaves through the winter. They lose them when the new leaves bud in the Spring, so live oaks always have leaves on them.

Except, something has been sweeping through the area over the last decade that has been killing live oaks by the groves. Then they are dead oaks. I've had to take out nearly 3 dozen trees in the last 5 years.

Bob-BQN wrote:

Except, something has been sweeping through the area over the last decade that has been killing live oaks by the groves. Then they are dead oaks. I've had to take out nearly 3 dozen trees in the last 5 years.

Bob, I think you might find this link useful: http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/trees/oakwilt.html.

Brad

Printing that information .... Thanks for the link Brad!

This was great help here everyone. I located a "nice" hickory. About 35 ft tall with abt a 16" base. It's mine now. Now to finish cutting it up and splitting it. Will work super in my sfb on my CG.....

I feel like there will be some nice smoke rings in the future.... after it seasons of course. Now to find a nice oak.....

Bill

Those are easy!!!

Hickory here is pretty rare (unless someone knows on a cache).