Home-made Apple Wood Chips - Moss/Fungi

[smokeitup717]

Hello,
I am a new home owner and part of my property has apple, peach, and pear trees.
I was pruning some dead branches from the apples trees and thought why not use it to smoke meat with?
I just started smoking recently and only have tried it 3 times, masterbuilt eletric smoker with water tray and chip tray on the bottom.
On the apple wood some of the bark looks to have grown a mold, moss, or fungi.
Do i need to soak this wood? Should i soak it before chipping it?
Do i need to remove the weird growth on the bark? Should i just cut it off?
I feel somewhat clueless but figured #s of free apple chips would make smoking food alot cheaper

 

[SmokinGumby]

Hello,
I am a new home owner and part of my property has apple, peach, and pear trees.
I was pruning some dead branches from the apples trees and thought why not use it to smoke meat with?
I just started smoking recently and only have tried it 3 times, masterbuilt eletric smoker with water tray and chip tray on the bottom.
On the apple wood some of the bark looks to have grown a mold, moss, or fungi.
Do i need to soak this wood? Should i soak it before chipping it?
Do i need to remove the weird growth on the bark? Should i just cut it off?
I feel somewhat clueless but figured #s of free apple chips would make smoking food alot cheaper

You want to get that bark off, it makes a bitter smoke you don't want. That should take care of the moss/fungus you don't want.
I use cherry from a tree in my yard that was struck by lightning. I knock a hunk off and then I whittle away the grey, weathered outside until I'm down into the rich, sweet smelling heart wood. I am not an expert or extremely experienced smoker, but I was at a friends house and he used bagged commercial mesquite/hickory blend and it was nothing like my fresh cut. It was like old firewood and my cherry smells like you could eat it.
I've never used branches, but you are going to want to make sure they are good and cured. The sapwood needs to die and cure to get good thin blue smoke that flavors without being acrid. Once they are well-dried and cured, I would whittle the weathered wood off the outside, I think that makes all the difference.

 

[gary s]

My go to wood is Pecan, But I have a Peach, Pear and Plum trees and use the pruned branches all the time. A good mild smoke flavor

Gary