I usually use Mesquite, Pecan or Hickory for smoking my meats. My wood pile is very low and I have at least 2 briskets and a turkey to cook for Thanksgiving.

Close to where I live, they have bulldozed a bunch of Hackberry trees down. Question is: Has anyone ever smoked with Hackberry wood before? If so, I can tell you where truckloads of it are.

Please respond if anyone knows about this wood.

Thanks

I don't know if it is good for smoking, but I can tell you that it's the sorriest firewood around. I still get mad when I see the burn on my hardwood floor from that poppin' hackberry. I used to know an old black man that called them "sugarberry" trees. Shame is, there is a ton of hackberry laying around. Call some of the tree companies in your area, after last week's stout winds there is bound to be some pecan sitting in one of their lots.

Good Luck,

Thanks Old Town - It does look like dirt wood to me, I just didn't know.

Anyone else know about this wood?

Thanks again

If you want to experiment build a fire with the hackberry and cook a few burger patties on it. If you like the taste then your ok to use it. But, I think you will be very disappointed. I cooked a beer can chicken at a friends house once and accidently got some elm into the fire. The chicken was horrible, couldn't even eat it. So, be careful as to what wood you use or you could be wasting a lot of good meat.

Thanks again - That's why I decided to post this before I ruined $75.00 worth of food. I would of never cooked with it anyway unless I had an overwhelming response of positive comments.

You'd be surprised at what some people try and do. I have been smoking meats now for over 20 years (so I tend to think that I know a little about it), and I've got a neighbor that told me once that he ruined some high dollar steaks that he bought. I said how? He said, because I used East Texas pine wood to cook with! I said, your nuts for even trying that. He said that "it made his house smell good, but the food was awful"...

If I have to, I'll just go buy some Mesquite or Hickory.

One more thing, I recently bought some natural mesquite charcoal at Wal-Mart, $2.87 for an 8 lb bag. It's good stuff. Burns hot so you don't need a lot compared to Kingsford. That with a bunch of water soaked mesquite worked great on a turkey a few weeks ago.

I wouldnt do it, we burn a lot of hackberry in campfires and the general smell is not very good, I wouldn't think cooking with it would work.