Eucalyptus or Acacia wood

[rgald]

I need some help regarding the type of wood that I can use for my new pizza oven. I have used oak for the first firing however these logs are a bit expensive to buy all the time.

I found some cheaper hard wood logs which are sold by a landscaping company (mixture of eucalyptus/ acacia/ iroko). These are normally used for fireplaces. Is this type of wood good for cooking pizza or shall I seek other options? I appreciate your help.

[texassourdough]

Re: Eucalyptus or Acacia wood

I use juniper. I would think eucalyptus would be good for heating the oven. I find juniper loses its aroma in a properly hot oven. I suspect those will too. But, if not, then switch to oak for cooking. But heat with cheap, dry, hot burning wood!
Jay

[nissanneill]

Re: Eucalyptus or Acacia wood

rgald,
any wood that is either NOT TREATED nor PAINTED is suitable for heating your oven. The Eucalyptus is fine (although others will say that the oils will spoil or taint your food, but the oils are the first things to burn off anyway as they are very flammable), they produce alot of BTHU's,. Generally speaking, the harder the euclypt, the hotter it burns but it needs more heat to catch and get it really burning.
I use any Eucalypt that I can get (even cut down Eucalypts at home) and burnt them within 12 months and still green but produce huge amounts of heat.
Just don't use painted or treated pine!

Neill