why do we use hardwood for smoking food?

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Like the title says. I just now had a thought about the way smoking food makes a unique flavor that most people love. Everything I’ve put in my smoker was over hardwood and I’ve never questioned it. Now I am questioning it. So, what makes hardwood so much better than softwood in terms of cooking?

In: Chemistry

8 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Soft woods are very sappy, which is bad because the wood doesn’t really smolder, that sap burns like oil. And when the sap is burning it produces this intense black smoke that’s for a buncha particulate and stuff that does not taste great. One of which is creosote. Sappy soft wood produces more creosote when burning which is this black carbon compound that is a cross between like, tar and coal, which is why you’re not supposed to use it in indoor stoves.

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