Cooking over walnut firewood?

[mcfarmall]

I did some light research on the internet about cooking directly (hot dogs on a stick, burgers on a grill) over a walnut fueled fire. Someone told me it was mildly toxic because of how nothing grows under walnut trees. My research revealed that it is ok to cook over walnut firewood but the smoky flavor it imparts can be overwhelming...no mention of toxicity. I also found that people use walnut slabs for cooking like the cedar slab method that some folks also use.

Lets hear your $0.02 worth on this topic.

[gtsum2]

can do it, but not the best flavor. I cook with oak, hickory and pecan (my favorite). Not as heavy as walnut imo


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[clubhouse]

The natural "herbicide" from walnut trees is from the husk around the walnut. There are lots of Walnut orchards around here, as they are replaced lots of firewood becomes available. I have burned lots of walnut wood in campfires where hotdogs and marshmallow have been roasted. No one I know has gotten I'll from it.

I don't however use walnut in my smoker. I prefer the taste from apple and peach wood and have lots if that available too.

[mcfarmall]

There must be something in the wood also as you should never use walnut sawdust for horse bedding...it will kill them. I believe that their u r i n e causes a chemical to leach out of the sawdust and then it is absorbed into the bloodstream through their hoofs.

Sounds like walnut is fine for recreational burning and open fire cooking / grilling / we enie roasting as long as it doesn't smoke too much.

[sven the elder]

I did a little research about using walnut in my smoker. From what I gathered, there is tannic acid in the wood that makes for a bitter taste.

[Jagiven]

Probably more info than you want. There is a lot of tannic acid in walnut trees. I have a large black walnut tree in my yard. It took a bit of research and a lot of trials to find out how to grow a nice looking yard under it. All dropping from the tree contain the tannic acid, even dripping rain water from the leaves contain high levels. The tannic acid decomposes in about 6 months.

I burn walnut whenever I have some, but I have never tried it for smoking.