peach wood ?

[tommy5]

anybody know anything about peachwood for cooking ?

[CanuckJim]

Peachwood

Tommy,

Never had the opportunity to use peach. Our growing zone is just a bit too far north. However, I have used cherry, apple and pear, with good results. I suspect that peach would behave much like these others. It will have lots of BTUs and be aromatic when burning, creating hard, dense coals that should be broken apart across the oven floor. Fruit woods, because they have lots of natural oil, need to be cured longer than most woods. Cut green, it should be seasoned for about a year before it's ready. Just check the cut ends. When radial cracks or checks appear and the wood has a dry, dull colour, it can be used. Also, you can tell be weight. When fruit wood, or any hardwood, is first cut, it will be fairly heavy in the hand. When it's seasoned, it will lose something like half it's fresh cut weight from the evaporation of moisture and sap.

The aromatic part of the equation can only improve your pizzas. Lucky man.

Jim

[jayjay]

Mango Wood and Charcoal

We have a lot of mango wood here, and also a lot of coconut wood. We get the fire started with coconut leaves and branches. We then add the mango limbs.
When cleaning out the oven hearth this morning, I noticed mostly soft ash, and no really hard coal like ashes. Is the wood I am burning too soft. Also, how about buring charcoal, as it is cheap and plentiful here in the Philippines. We also have lots of rice hulls. I am wondering if I could burn them to gain free
heat. We have a rice mill nearby and they are begging for someone to haul off the hulls.
The mango smells somewhat like peach when it burns. We cut it and burned
it, we did not season it as it was dead on the tree when we got it.
I am begining to think that this oven will really take a lot of wood, thick
logs, to get it hot enough to begin to bake. How much wood is enough for a 3 x 4 foot oven with open door and 8 inch thick walls.
Thanks for any advice to this green horn.
JJ
Philippines