Orange wood is not exactly the most widely known smoking wood. This is largely because orange trees are not very common outside of a few states. As with the wood from all fruit trees, orange wood is a hardwood. Because they are made from a hardwood, orange wood chips put out a cleaner smoke than softwoods. It does not have the resinous nature of pine and fir, which can leave an unhealthy residue on food. Which tree provides orange wood chips? Orange trees are a hybrid between pomelo and mandarin and are believed to have originated in Asia. They were first cultivated in China, according to historians. Oranges were introduced to Spain by the Moors. Large-scale cultivation of the bitter orange would start in the 10th century and the sweet …show more content…
The foods that go best with the flavor of orange wood smoke are the less flavorful cuts of pork along with most poultry. Orange wood has been used to smoke Thanksgiving turkeys and is said to provide outstanding results. How do you use orange wood chips? Like every other type of wood chip, simply load up your smoker box with the chips and place it on smoldering coals or over a burner if you are using a gas grill. The box will heat up and the chips will start to smoke and flavor your meat. You can remove the box with tongs once you feel that your meat has gotten enough smoke or if you need to add more chips. Another way to do it if you do not own a smoker box is to wrap the chips in foil. Poke some holes in the foil and use it like you would a smoker box. The smoke will escape through the holes you made and flavor the food. While it is widely recommended for slowing down the burning process, soaking is not really a good option. It only delays burning for a short time until the chips dry out, then they burn at the same rate they would have