Wood Charcoal

The history and tradition of burning charcoal dating back thousands of years and there is something magical about cooking on a charcoal grill.

Coal is the fuel for traditional barbecue, because it produces a good fire of long duration that is virtually smokeless. The fundamentals of making charcoal is wood burning in an atmosphere low in oxygen, a process that leads to moisture and volatile gases in the fuel of origin. The elimination of moisture reduces the weight of fuel up to 70% and the product of this charred also burns much longer than the original piece of wood.

Charcoal has been manufactured since pre-history and we know that following the discovery of an ancient body of a melting glacier in the Tyrolean Alps. Scientists dated the remains of man back about 5000 years ago and they also found he was carrying a small box of charred wood wrapped in leaves. The scientists concluded that the wood was charred and smoldering probably what man would use to start a fire because outside this area, it did not fire the other raw materials such as flint.

Even 6,000 years ago, charcoal was the preferred fuel for smelting copper and this continued to be the case for iron and even as late as the 17th century, when charcoal was replaced by coke . Charcoal has also remained popular in many other areas much later mainly due to the abundance of forests in many areas and the process of coppice is a sustainable resource. Something we should think in this era of global warming - many environmentalists see as wood and coal carbon neutral due to the ability of trees to grow and absorb greenhouse gases. Charcoal has been used for domestic heating and perhaps we should start using more gas fireplaces instead patio heater motor?

The ultimate passage of charcoal for heating and industrial fuel to a recreational cooking material took place around 1920, when Henry Ford created the charcoal briquette. The business proved extremely profitable for Ford because the charcoal briquettes were made of wood waste car plants and its secondary activity also encouraged recreational use of cars for picnic outings - the sale of Link! In fact, BBQ charcoal and Ford have been sold at Ford dealerships as well.

The autoclave method is used to produce charcoal briquettes and it is to move the wood through a series of hearths or ovens and the great revolution is that it is a continuous process rather that have to be done in separate batches as with the traditional lump charcoal. The traditional method of production of coal was piled in a pyramid of wood and covering it with earth, turf, or ashes, leaving air vents around the base and a chimney at the top. The wood is then set on fire and burn slowly and once completed, the vents were then covered up so that the pyramid would be cool.

I suppose the benefits of briquetting are attractive for the business man of manufacture, but there is something magical about the mass production of lump charcoal. The various steps in the process are indicated by different colors of smoke that moisture is removed and there is an element of competence being transmitted from father to son. Maybe I'm too sentimental, but when I'm cooking with charcoal I always feel knowing that the traditional industry of multiplication.