Anyone try the FOGO Quebracho or Eucalyptus charcoals?

KiterTodd

I've used Fogo Premium and Super Premium before.  I like it.  No complaints, but see they have two other varieties available also.

• Quebracho is described as "White Quebracho Tree - it’s all about the stamina, this is the longest lasting charcoal. The Argentinian Quebracho is made of one of the densest woods in the world, making it a very heavy charcoal that lasts a long time. However, being as dense as it is, the lighting of this charcoal takes time and patience."
• Eucalyptus is described as "Eucalyptus tree - Dense charcoal with a strong kick. Made out of the Eucalyptus tree, it is a dense wood with a stronger smoky flavor."

I still don't get a sense for the flavor this will bring to food (for both) and if lighting is really that much an issue (quebracho)?  I'd like to try some, but if its an acquired taste I can just stick with the premium which is on sale and burns great.

THANKS for any tips!

Legume

I wouldn’t put eucalyptus in any smoker.  I know it’s charcoal and not just seasoned wood, but that’s oily wood that smells like medicine or cleaner.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Most of the quebracho comes from the deforestation in the Amazon region. I don’t buy any lump  that comes from South America. Almost all of it comes from very sensitive areas and almost all of it is illegally harvested. 

Charcoal in the us comes from trees that have already fallen. It’s my understanding that You can’t cut a tree down to make charcoal in the us. That is not the case in other countries. 

KiterTodd

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

Most of the quebracho comes from the deforestation in the Amazon region. I don’t buy any lump  that comes from South America. Almost all of it comes from very sensitive areas and almost all of it is illegally harvested. 

Charcoal in the us comes from trees that have already fallen. It’s my understanding that You can’t cut a tree down to make charcoal in the us. That is not the case in other countries. 

Wow.  Thank you.  That's a perspective I had not considered.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

KiterTodd said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

Most of the quebracho comes from the deforestation in the Amazon region. I don’t buy any lump  that comes from South America. Almost all of it comes from very sensitive areas and almost all of it is illegally harvested. 

Charcoal in the us comes from trees that have already fallen. It’s my understanding that You can’t cut a tree down to make charcoal in the us. That is not the case in other countries. 

Wow.  Thank you.  That's a perspective I had not considered.

Most people have not considered it and have no reason to. I  was unaware until I read about it a while back but as soon as I saw it I started trying to know my sources a little better. 

stlcharcoal

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

Most of the quebracho comes from the deforestation in the Amazon region. I don’t buy any lump  that comes from South America. Almost all of it comes from very sensitive areas and almost all of it is illegally harvested. 

Charcoal in the us comes from trees that have already fallen. It’s my understanding that You can’t cut a tree down to make charcoal in the us. That is not the case in other countries. 

And lest not forget, they don't have the EPA down there either......they can pump as much particulate into the air as they want all while using [nearly] slave labor to do it.

Any large production in the US is coming from mill scrap, all smoke is being burned at 1500F+ so it's clear, the workers are making pretty good money since they work in a very dirty and hot job, etc.

How some of these companies can bring charcoal into this country from 4000 miles away and sell it for CHEAPER THAN WE CAN PRODUCE IT for, tells you their cost of goods sold is almost completely inbound transportation.


The Charcoal People
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0245034/
This was the documentary that showed the deforestation, slave labor, etc. in the early 2000's.  It was availabel on YouTube and Amazon Prime for a while, but not any more.

KiterTodd

stlcharcoal said:

...

How some of these companies can bring charcoal into this country from 4000 miles away and sell it for CHEAPER THAN WE CAN PRODUCE IT for, tells you their cost of goods sold is almost completely inbound transportation.

Eye opening.   In all the lump threads on here in the past, I have never noted that mentioned. I'm sure it has come up, but not as a major factor for choosing your charcoal.  I'll think of this going forward.

While I love Rockwood, variety is nice.  It doesn't seem that there is enough quality U.S. made lump to choose from.  There is the stuff Home Depot carries, and the bags sold by the grill manufacturers (I like KJ's) but I don't see much else readily available.

All the peruvian restaurants around me use a great smelling charcoal, but now that you mention the notes above, I would suspect it's mostly imported lump from questionable methods.

KiterTodd

For what it's worth, I reached out to the president of FOGO with some of these questions and got a very detailed prompt response which answered everything I asked. He got into a lot of the history on the dirty side of charcoal and why that causes people to question it today.

For me this is not a brand vs. brand debate or argument.  I like variety. I love Rockwood, Fogo, Kamodo Joe's Big Block and have had great cooks over the years with Royal Oak. I like BGE lump as well, it's just priced high.  They all have their place in my cooks.

The Fogo Premium and Super Premium charcoals comes exclusively from coffee plantations.  Fogo is working to try to procure some type of certification to prove this, but the history I got was "In El Salvador coffee is produced in small batches, not in big farms but on small hillside "Fincas" under the cover of shade trees. But these shade trees need to be continuously trimmed, cut, removed, newly planted etc, and they don't need the wood. It's a nuisance. They just want to make and sell the best coffee in the world."  They would just let the wood rot, other than small amounts this hardwood workers started to take home to make charcoal and discovered how good it was.

Now, I can't argue that obviously the labor to make this is at a much lower cost than what you'd find in the U.S., and for that I'll still continue to buy U.S. made lump as well.  However, in his long email response to me he did convince me that they are not sourcing their premium and super premium wood from deforestation.  That had concerned me.  He had a good back story for the other two lumps as well, but the two big selling premium lines were much more clear cut (wood source to lump).

So I'll continue to buy Fogo, along with the other great brands already mentioned.  Thanks for the new info, insight, and causing me to question the source.