Who doesn’t love an apple tree? Beyond its beautiful fruit, Apple hardwood is very popular for burning for its sweet aromas. It is great for outdoor fires because of it’s fragrance but it has also become very desirable among cooks for wood burning ovens as well as for smoking foods. Apple wood is one of the hottest burning woods available and creates a slow, even clean burn with low smoke.

Alder has always been one of the most preferred woods of our First Nations people. The wood is low in pitch, which makes it a good wood for smoking meat as well as its hardness has also been used for carving items such as bowls. Along with firewood, alder is used for furniture and flooring. Alder is a nitrogen-fixer, meaning that it puts nitrogen back into the soil, its ashes are a good sources of fertilizer for your soil.

Birch is another popular hardwood among our First Nations people as it has always been very practical to make baskets, canoes, cradles and use as medicine for colds. Birch is a good firewood it burns well and produces a moderate amount of heat. It splits fairly easy and dries fast once split. Birch bark makes great fire starter because of its similarity to paper. Birch doesn’t have a lot of smoke and won’t throw a lot of sparks.

Cherry wood is another star in the fruit hardwoods as it produces moderate heat and most importantly it creates a slow burn and low smoke with a sweet aroma. This is one of the most desired woods for smoking meat or fish or cooking food in a wood fired oven. Cherry wood does create small sparks or crackles which can add to the audible charm of your fire but typically does not throw sparks outwards. Cherry wood also doesn’t normally smoke or smolder making it a safer wood as it burns cleaner reducing gasses.

Maple is another staple in the BC Hardwoods. Maple trees are not just about their syrup and beautiful leaves we symbolize in Canada its straight grained wood is also a very good source for heating because of the strong heat it produces but also the amazing sweet aroma that comes from the wood. Maple firewood typically burns very clean with little smoke and sparks and produces long and steady burns.