APPLEWOOD – WHY WE DON’T USE IT! – HERE’S WHY

We don’t use or sell Applewood! Too many potential health risks

Why we Don’t Use or Sell Applewood– Those of you living outside of New York State may be surprised to learn that we are the number two state for apple production behind Washington state.

However, we do rank number one for the greatest number of varieties of apples.  Annually, our state produces nearly 30 million bushels of apples.

With an abundance of apple trees, the assumption would be that our number one hardwood offering must be apple.  However, you would be wrong.

Applewood Abundance Comes at a Cost

Just because apple wood is abundant in our state doesn’t mean it should automatically be sold as a cooking wood.  This is without question, a favorite fruit.  When something is at high demand it is protected in order to assure the supply for that demand.  For this reason, growers of apples put their priority into preserving the fruit production.

Keep in mind, an apple tree may not start producing fruit for the first 8-10 years but it can produce for 50 or more years.  In fact, with careful and frequent pruning, these trees do remain in the orchard bearing fruit if they don’t become infested with a disease or pest.

Good Agricultural Practices

Around the year 2001, the New York apple industry began working on a strategic plan in conjunction with Cornell University to develop what they referred to as an integrated fruit production program. 
The purpose of the program was to ensure apples were produced using environmentally friendly processes to include eco-friendly insect, mite, disease, vertebrate and weed pest management.  In other words, this was meant to use more “friendly” pesticide applications and methods.  What didn’t change is the that chemicals were still being used.

The USDA has done extensive study on pesticides and their life on agricultural products (USDA Pesticide Data Program). As a result of the studies, here is a list of the common pesticides found to be present on apples in what is termed residual form.

USDA Findings:

Diphenylamine (DPA)	82.8%
Thiabendazole	81.0%
Pyrimethanil	75.2%
Chlorantraniliprole	41.2%
Acetamiprid	28.7%
Imidacloprid	20.2%
Carbendazim (MBC)	17.3%
Tetrahydrophthalimide	16.7%
Methoxyfenozide	15.9%
Fludioxonil	13.4%
Thiacloprid	12.7%
Boscalid	12.7%
Pyraclostrobin	11.8%
Phosmet	9.6%
Azinphos methyl	9.2%
Fenpyroximate	8.5%
Endosulfan II	8.1%

Myclobutanil	8.1%
Diazinon	6.5%
Trifloxystrobin	5.8%
Spinetoram	5.0%
Endosulfan I	4.3%
Etoxazole	3.3%
Pendimethalin	3.3%
Fenpropathrin	2.8%
Fenbuconazole	2.7%
Carbaryl	2.4%
Endosulfan sulfate	1.9%
Flonicamid	1.6%
Chlorpyrifos	1.6%
Cyhalothrin, Total	1.1%
Spinosad	0.9%
o-Phenylphenol	0.9%
Imazalil	0.5%
Chlorpropham	0.4%
Difenoconazole	0.3%
Permethrin cis	0.3%
Esfenvalerate+Fenvalerate Total	0.1%
Buprofezin	0.1%
Thiamethoxam	0.1%
Pyriproxyfen	0.1%
Tebuconazole	0.1%
Pronamide	0.1%
Methoxychlor olefin	0.1%
Dicofol p,p’	0.1%
Permethrin trans	0.1%
DCPA	0.1%

The premise for using all these pesticides is the common belief that apples cannot be grown without chemical pesticides. Despite efforts to institute ecofriendly practices, we remain dependent on chemicals.  But here’s the kicker: apples are ranked number 4 out of 12 as a fruit most contaminated by pesticides.  Washing with water doesn’t do enough either. The chemical pesticides can penetrate the skin into the flesh of the apple making every bite a risk.

In the Fruit, In the Tree

So what does this mean for the actual tree growing the apples?  Spray the tree with chemical pesticides to protect the fruit production and consequently, you compromise the tree for any other purpose including cooking.  Pesticide applications embed into the soil base of the tree, which then enters the root system, and is on the way to the other parts of the tree.  Pesticides can also become air born as they turn into a vapor and travel by airflow (think wind).  The bark of any tree is a great absorber of these air particles.  Once pesticides enter the human body, they are stored in the colon.   Symptoms then progress to stomach pains, abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting. Certainly, toxicity can advance and produce colorectal cancer.  Know that once the chemicals are absorbed into the tree’s roots and nutritional supply center, they are there for life.

As a company, SmokinLicious® just can’t participate in risk to the public’s health.  If we can offer products that are as natural as possible, bark-free to prevent absorption of pollutants captured by the bark, we will do it.

Given there are so many other choices for safe hardwoods free of potential chemical contamination. We opt to dismiss apple wood even though we are a state in apple abundance.

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DURING STAY AT HOME, DON’T QUARANTINE YOUR TASTE BUDS

During stay at home or Quarantine doesn’t mean you should place your taste buds on hold!

Stay at Home

You’ve committed to a stay-cation.  Lists of games to play, tasks to complete, books to read, and movies and shows to see have been compiled.  Now its time to give some thought to the food that will sustain you during this time.

Don’t compromise taste because your afraid to make too much work out of cooking.  Using the grill is a super easy way to keep your foods and meals highly flavorful.  Let’s give you some ideas that will provide options for everyone to feel satisfied and pleasantly full.

The Breakdown

I think the easiest way to view meal preparation when you focus on the grill as your primary method of cooking is to breakdown foods by categories.

Fruits: 

 

This group of food can make some of the best grilled items.  Already sweet in flavor, grilling them produces more vibrant flavor as the heat caramelizes the natural sugars and produces a char to the outside of the fruit.  When selecting fruits for the grill, be sure they are ripe but not over-ripened to where they present as soft, or they will have tendency to break apart on the grill.  Keep the pieces of fruit large when placing on the grill to maintain as much cell structure as possible.  Brush the fruit pieces lightly with a high heat oil like coconut, avocado, or grape seed.  The key is to leave the pieces untouched for at least 3 minutes before flipping to get great char and flavor infusion.  Perfect fruits for the grill: banana, avocado, apple, mango, peach, papaya, pineapple, peach, pear, plum, grapes, cranberry, eggplant, kiwi, raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, tomato.

Vegetables: 

 

You likely are already aware of popular vegetables to grill like corn on the cob, peppers, and onions, but there are so many more that pair perfectly with the grill.  In fact, I would go as far as saying ANY vegetable is appropriate for the grill, you just need to control those that should be exposed to direct heat versus indirect.  The easy method of determining heat level is the thicker the skin on the veggie, the more tolerant to direct heat.  All vegetables can cook on the grill in less than 10 minutes so time really isn’t a factor.  Always remember to avoid moving the vegetables on the grill until they have cooked for at least 3-4 minutes.  For preparation to the vegetables, most require just quartering or slicing in half, with some going on whole like tomatoes and smaller mushrooms.  Basting with high heat tolerant oils is also recommended.

Nuts and Seeds:

 

These are foods that react with a super boost in flavor when exposed to the heat of a grill and flavor of wood on the grill.  Any seed or nut can be grilled by using a disposable foil pan or griddle pan designed for grilling.  These items take about 15-20 minutes and should be stirred every 5-8 minutes to prevent scorching.

Baked Items:

 

Anything you normally would bake in an oven can be done on the grill.   This includes cookies, cakes, breads, pies, tarts, and pastry.  Just remember, like vegetables, these items can be a bit more fragile.  Using a two-zone cooking set up on the grill – baked item placed on the unlit side of the grill while the heat is on the opposite side – produces a radiant heat that will cook the item evenly and without any direct hot spots.  I will say that baked items tend to do best on a LP/Gas grill versus charcoal unit.

Animal Proteins:

 

Of course, animal proteins are well known as a grilled food item.  My recommendation here is to marinate items with either wet or dry rubs for 8 hours to ensure great moisture in the finished product.

As a final note, grilled foods store very well and don’t lose any of their flavor when refrigerated.  Plus, it’s easy to grill a variety of items at the same time.  Any meal – breakfast, lunch, dinner – can be done exclusively on a grill.  For those that love even more char flavoring, think about adding wood chunks either in a smoking box or directly on grates or heat shields.  You can learn more about this technique for the gas grill here.

Do you plan to take a stay-cation?  Leave us a comment and subscribe to get our latest tips, techniques, recipes and the science behind the fire and smoke, for all live fire cooking methods. That’s SmokinLicious!

THE BRIGHTEST BEET HUMMUS BOTH IN FLAVOR AND COLOR

A must try is this smoked Beet Hummus!

I’ve got another great recipe for wood fired beets that will provide a quick way to prepare a fabulous beet hummus for guests, bring-a-dish parties, or just as a great snack for your own family.  Wood fired flavor will come from the gas grill equipped with wood chunks using a two-zone cooking method.  The outcome is a full flavor, beautiful beet hummus color to delight all who have the pleasure of partaking in this treat.  Just one good size beet will do the trick but I always do an extra to keep around.

Join me at the grill as we make ricotta and smoked beet hummus.

Beet Preparation

 
It’s so simple to prepare beets for the grill to roast and smoke.  Simply trim the leaf stalks off and wash the beets well under water.  Pat dry and then wrap in aluminum foil leaving the upper portion of the foil open to allow the smoke vapor in.  That’s it!  I like to put my foil wrapped beets on a ¼ sheet pan to make it easy to add and remove from the grill.  This will be a two-zone grill set up so while

I’ve been preparing the beets, I’ve preheated my grill to medium-high using only ½ the burners and added a smoker box with wood chunks to the side that will be hot.  Wait for full temperature and the wood chunks to smoke, and you’re ready to add the beets.

Tasting Notes: It is not necessary to foil wrap the beets but you will need something to put the beets on otherwise you’ll have purple beet juice all over your grill.

Two-Zone Grill Smoking

With the washed fresh beets wrapped in foil, it’s time to let them grill roast as well as smoke.  I’ve placed three hardwood chunks in a metal smoker box to add smoke vapor to the beets.  My beets are placed on the unlit side of the grill while the smoker box is on the hot side.  After about 75 minutes, these are tender and smoky.  Remove them from the grill and allow to cool until they can be handled. 

Using a paper towel, begin peeling the skin from the cooked beets.  Using a paper towel will protect your hands from becoming purple from the beet juice, a common problem when working with beets.

Tasting Notes: I’ve elected to use wood chunks as I find the provide for greater smoke vapor and don’t require any additional wood to be added to the smoker box.  You certainly can use wood chips but note, you may need to replenish these during cooking.

A Bright and Flavorful Hummus

With the beet grilled and smoked, it’s time to add the ingredients for our hummus.  Start by adding one 15-1/2 ounce can of chickpeas that have been rinsed and drained to a food processor bowl.  Then add 1/3 cup of well mixed tahini, ¼ cup fresh lemon juice, ¼ cup ricotta, 1 garlic clove finely grated, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, ½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper, and ¼ teaspoon ground coriander to a food processor and process until smooth.  Remember, the smoked beet will add a sweet flavor so adjust seasonings after that step.

With the other ingredients processed for the beet hummus it’s time to bring in the wood fired beet flavor.  Cut one smoked beet into 8 pieces and add to the processor bowl and process until well combined and smooth.  Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.  Transfer the hummus to a serving dish, sprinkle with fresh mint and a drizzle of olive oil.  Serve with your choice of sides – vegetables, pita wedges, won-ton chips, crostini, crackers – whatever fits your need.  This is easy to keep on hand for when you need a quick cocktail accompaniment or just want a great, healthy snack.  You’ll love the festiveness of the bright purple-pink hue which makes this a stand out dish.

What’s your favorite recipe for beets?  Leave us a comment to opine and subscribe to get all our postings on tips, techniques and recipes.  Bringing innovation to wood fired cooking with recipes, techniques and the science behind the fire, smoke, and flavor. That’s SmokinLicious®.