Grape wood

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Richard1233

is one Smokin' Farker
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Anyone else use grape wood for smoking on here? I know it's bigger here in cali with all the wineries around here but I just want to see how popular it is everywhere else. It burns hot and fast but you can control it when u have a big smoker like the 500 gallon tank I have. Great flavor, i never have leftovers from my cooks.
 
Hey Richard,
We have wild grape vines around these parts and I treat them like weeds these days.
I think I used some larger chunks for a cook a number of years ago but don't recall. It must have been pretty unremarkable if I don't remember it.
 
Before the Brethren i use to soak my wood....lol.....when i did i used hot water to open the pores of the wood to accept the water. It had a jelly that came out of it. it was some of the sweetest smoke i ever tasted. I would use pecan grape and apple wood. I am in Detroit and its kinda hard to find around here.
 
I have used grape wood to smoke in my kettle. It produces a really light smoke flavor which went well with fish and chicken, along with a delicate flavor profile. I dont thikn it would be able to stand up well to pork or beef because of how subtle the smoke produced is.
 
Grape Vines when dry, can be very aromatic. However if used in excess, as with any other wood, they can create bitter smoke.

Good with most white meats like poultry, fowl, and pork.
 
It's not vines that I'm talking about. It's the actual wood. It's great stuff. Sweet smoke flavor. When the wood is moist and thrown on the fire it leaks this white sugary substance. Grape wood has made some great bbq for me. Only wood I prefer right now is apple for poultry. I love this grape wood for pork.
 
We always used to use any grape prunings or the thick wood of dead vines being replaced.

I thought of it as about like any other fruit wood trimming (peach, apple, etc). Obviously it's its own thing, but not remarkable enough to comment on.

If you have small trimmings with a few medium sized chunks you can also use them to grill thin fish or cutlets--it's unique.
 
I was cooking at the Sams club event this passed weekend in Renton. I had two pork shoulders. One I smoked using grape the other one peach wood. I had a 1/4 inch smoke ring all sound that shoulder with the grape wood. I had practiced the weekend before and had the same result on my practice pork shoulder using grape. I really liked the taste. For those that wish to know I took 14th in pork at Renton. And now that I'm almost out of grape wood I'm looking to find/order some more.
 
I know a few guys that use it as a "secret weapon" during competitions around here. They say it adds a very subtle richness to the meat. :confused: I've never used it so can't speculate on that..

But we have a lot of wineries here in MO too so it is pretty easy to find it. A friend of mine just calls around until he finds a winery that has trimmings and will let him take some of it.
 
I'm lucky to live about ten minutes from Fruita wood and they have it pretty often. It's a good light, sweet smoke flavor. I tried sassafras wood for the first time last weekend on a butt. It was interesting. A little heavier than fruit woods. That's going in the arsenal too.
 
Yes it can add a thick smoke ring. I smoked chicken thighs one morning and smoked them for almost 3 hours and the whole part of the meat was a smoke ring it was pink all the way to the bone. People loved it. I really liked it the day of but we had a few pieces leftover the next day and it seemed a little overwhelming the smoke flavor was intense. I really like the grape for back ribs and pulled pork but for poultry I think I wanna stick to apple, cherry, plum mixtures. I'll probably try using apple with just a little grape next time to see how it goes.
 
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