charcoal kingsford guide

Charcoal Kingsford
Pick Your Favorite Variation

Charcoal's popularity for being used as a recreational cooking material began in the early 1900s when Henry Ford invented the charcoal briquette. Ford had sawdust and scrap wood left over in his automobile plants. Rather than throw them away, he used them to develop charcoal. He succeeded in making a profitable use of these waste products.

Selling charcoal briquettes became his sideline business. Combining his two businesses - charcoal and automobiles - also encouraged the recreational use of cars for picnic outings. Barbecue grills and Ford Charcoal were sold at the company's automobile dealerships, some of which devoted as much as fifty percent of their business space to the cooking supplies business.

Charcoal was initially produced by piling wood in a cone-shaped mound and covering it with dirt, turf, or ashes. Air intake holes would be made around the bottom of the pile, Finally a chimney port would be opened at the top. The wood would then be set afire and allowed to burn slowly. Once the wood was burning, the air holes were covered so the wood pile would cool slowly. In more modern times, the single-use charcoal pit was replaced by a stone, brick, or concrete kiln that would hold approximately 25-75 cords of wood. The wood would burn for three to four weeks. After cooling for seven to 10 days, the final results are the charcoal remains.

Today, Charcoal Kingsford briquettes are made by "charing the wood". "Charing the wood" is burning the wood at a very high temperature. You may not realize it, but charcoal is not a rock. It is actually wood created by heating the wood to high temperatures in the absence of oxygen. Today, the wood is put in a sealed box of steel or clay and heated to about 1000 F (538 C).This eliminates the water from the wood. Freshly cut wood contains a lot of water -- sometimes more than half its weight is water. The charred wood ingredients are are crushed and packed into rolling trays like ice cube trays where the briquette is formed. The briquettes are allowed to dry for a few days before being packaged. A solvent is added during the drying phase to create the self starting briquette. Charcoal Kingsford makes a wide varieties of charcoal.

Briquettes can be made from a variety of woods. One of the most today is mesquite. Using mesquite briquettes adds a flavor to the cooking process.

Hardwood charcoal is a variant that is made from very hard woods. This product is great for cooking. It is sometimes referred to as lump hardwood charcoal and is usually more expensive than plain old charcoal briquettes. But it is very easy to ignite and burns hotter and more quickly than regular briquettes. If you’re trying out hardwood charcoal for the first time, expect to use less to achieve the same heat level that you’re accustomed to with your regular charcoal briquettes. However, if you need constant high heat for a prolonged period of time,you must stoke the fire occasionally with a handful or two of hardwood charcoal Kingsford.