Smoking with fresh cut fruitwoods?

[precookingsmoker]

It have no knowledge of what smoking with green fresh-cut fruit wood chunks would do in flavoring. Has anyone tried it?

I am planning on placing a piece of bread in the smoker and tasting the bread afterward. I "may" remove the outside bark first.....don't know yet. (I skipped spraying the trees last year).

If this works.... I could salvage my limb pruning of peach, nectarine, plum, apricot, cherry, persimmon, and orange by recycling them into chip bags with my shredder...... ;D  I am sure this will work if I dried them but that takes too much time effort. So I will try green if there are no comments on this experiment.

[Habanero Smoker]

I have tried green peach wood in a vertical water smoker, and it works well - no need for soaking. If the bark was thin like it is on small branches I left it on, if it is thick I would peel it off.

[precookingsmoker]

As usual Mr. Habanero Smoker, you are absolutely right! ::)

This image is after 4 to 5 minutes of heating green peach branch cuttings of thumb size pieces 2-3 inches long in the pseudo-Bradley LPG cold smoker.

http://s947.photobucket.com/albums/ad314/meteorized/meteorized123/?action=view&current=GreenWood5minutes.jpg

Only picture in meteorized123 album. Hope it works. :-[

I have added a heel of white bread for a taste test with heel side down because cold smoke curls downward in this smoker. -Larry

[pensrock]

A friend of mine only uses green wood when he smokes his sausages. He gets a fire going and puts the green wood on top. Tastes good.  :)

[pikeman_95]

This year I pruned 11 apple trees and chipped the smaller branches. I have used apple wood for years that I have chipped and it works great. I would never consider throwing it away. I did try some plumb branches and it smelled funny. One of the best flavors that I like is white Birch. That smoke smells so good.

Kirby

[Habanero Smoker]

This year I pruned 11 apple trees and chipped the smaller branches. I have used apple wood for years that I have chipped and it works great. I would never consider throwing it away. I did try some plumb branches and it smelled funny. One of the best flavors that I like is white Birch. That smoke smells so good.

Kirby

My favorite wood if peach, I've never tried white birch. I do have few white birch trees around, and I may try that wood. But I better try it soon, something have been killing off the white birch over the past several years.

[unclebuck]

If you use birch, best to peel the bark, as the oils in the bark cause a black, sooty smoke when they burn, imparting a rather nasty taste to the product being smoked.  I found out the hard way!!!

[Caneyscud]

Can't say I've used much fresh cut fruitwoods for smoking.  Plenty of fruitwoods, but not much fresh.  Not around many orchards here.  Generally, fresh cut is not recommended for more than one reason.  However, I'm never one to walk the party line.  I've used fresh woods in the past.  Some won't use limb wood, mainly because of the bark and amount of sap and sapwood involved.  Says it gives a strong flavor.  - good for me.  However, some say it is a bitter taste.  Some peel the bark off - but that is not K.I.S.S.!  Seems sorta OCD or AR to me!  If the limbs are really full of sap - as in oozing out when put on the fire, I do get a sorta burnt sugar smell at times.  Can't say I can tell it in the meat though.  Main reason, I don't use fresh cut much is the difficulty of starting a fire with it.  Not the easiest to do.  So I usually use a base of charcoal and put the fresh wood on top of that.  In a big smoker that is not noticable, but in a smaller smoker, there can be a temperature drop while the wetness is driven out of the wood.  A minor problem.  However, life is simpler when you give the trimmings a few weeks of drying out - but it is said that when fruitwood seasons - it loses it's flavor.  So take your pick. 

Lots of people say NEVER use fresh wood  - says it produces creosote.  I'd say that is probably said by people who have never smoked with fresh wood.  I haven't found that to be a problem.  Moisture affects the burning process, with unburnt hydrocarbons going up the chimmney.  When you season wood what is being driven off - it is mainly water.  All the resins (which are somewhat erroneously said to cause creosote) are left in the wood.  Water doesn't produce creosote - air starved burning along with chimney temps of less than 250 deg. do.  Now, the steam given off by burning green wood does help with cooling off the combustion gases and helping deposit creosote in chimneys, but it doesn't produce creosote.  In a smoker, that moisture can condense on the exterior wall and can drip back down onto the food. 

To top off the misconception, many of the same smokers who say don't use green wood will say to soak their already dried wood in water overnight.  You can't see me, but I am banging my head on my desk trying to figure that one out.   

[pikeman_95]

I agree with you on the subject of the fresh cut wood. I have used it fresh chipped  and then after it has time to dry. When the chips are dry I then soak it to add moisture to control the rate of burn in my smoke generators. If I put it in too dry it will put out one hell of a smoke but will burn up to fast. As far as the creosote issue, what I have experienced is related into putting your sausage directly into the smoker out of the fridge with out letting it have time to warm up to room temperature. If it is cold from the fridge it will act like a cold chimney and will condense the creosote out of the smoke. If the sausage is warm and dry the smoke will penetrate like it should.
Like you have pointed out, all of the resins and lignons are in the wood dry or wet. The only thing that leaves the wood is the water. If you want more smoke penetration try adding fans to your smoker. This will increase the contact of the smoke with the sausage surface and speed up the smoking process.

[Caneyscud]

Oh my goodness. - Pikeman just noticed the Missoula address.  Can I get down and kiss your wading boots.

The Clark (actually flowing through the city), the Bitterroot, the Blackfoot, the Missourri, and Rock Creek - fabled flyfishing waters!  Sadly the closest I've gotten to you is on the Madison above Ennis.  Some day!