# mango wood



## dpyro

Was just wondering if mango wood be good for smoking. my neighbor has a tree she wants cut down because its grown to close to her house. thinking i could take the bigger pieces season it then use next year some time. I have no problem getting kiawe wood to smoke with and that is also free. was just wondering .thank you


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## rpmorey

Rule of thumb, if it bears fruit or nuts, you can probably smoke with it. When I want to try some wood for the first time, I will do a test cook with the wood that I want to try. I usually cook a couple of skinless chicken breasts and thighs, They take smoke easily and I can do a taste test. If you like it, use the wood, some woods smoke strong and you can decide how much of the smoke is good for your tastes.


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## fire it up

I would have thought that it would be fine considering it is a fruit tree but Googling brought this up...

Mango wood contains a sap that is located at the base of the stem, branches, and trunk. As a result, a recommendation is made never to burn mango wood as it emits a smoke that is full of potent irritants.  Plus, Mango trees are highly suseptible to a number of diseases and pest infestations, including the fruit fly, black twig borer, sooty mold, and southern green stink bug to name a few. Pesticide application is generally necessary to maintain the health of these trees. Because of the chemical application, Mango wood does not make for good BBQ! Stick to forest producing products for the safest woods for BBQ!

So I guess no go on the wood, but you could still cut it down for the neighbor if she is an older lady


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## alx

Dang Jim.That is some BAD stuff that Mango....


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## justpassingthru

Errr, friends, I've used lots of mango wood, in fact it was the only wood I used for the first 8-9 months of smoking, works fine, I didn't find any sap when I cut the tree down and after it was dry..., well, it was dry.  I don't know how to describe it not being able to compare it with any of your wood, but I would have to say it is mild, stronger than guava and milder than Mediterranean almond, yes it is a member of the poison oak-ivy family, but nothing like them in resemblance, the leaves look like peach leaves and I first thought it was a member of the peach family until I googled it.

*dpyro*, I think if you do your good deed you will be rewarded with some good smoking wood.

Gene


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## alx

I thought i remembered you mentioning this before.


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## dv8r808

Mango wood is very sappy when green, still carries the sap when dry, for that reason many avoid it. Also the Mango Tree is in the same botanical family as poison ivy, so many are easily irritated by its fruit and use of its wood.


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## familyjuice

This mango tree got uprooted after a strong typhoon hit a month ago. I cut a small piece to check if I could use the wood for smoking. It had a strong smell, that made my eyes water immediately. But, the guy I hired to cut the tree up wasn't affected at all. Weird.













IMG_3352.jpg



__ familyjuice
__ Aug 15, 2014


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## bbqmzungu

I use mango on occasion.  For Westerners, I think it is similar to apple.  Makes a nice smoke on chicken.  I've had no trouble with sap or anything else.  Mine is nice and dry, and they don't spray trees much here in Uganda, so I don't have to worry about that either.

BBQMzungo


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## mneeley490

I know a very good BBQ restaurant in Mexico that uses mango. They make some of the best pork ribs I've ever tasted.


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## familyjuice

Now, I remember that mango tree was sprayed with something to produce fruit. That could be the problem.


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## welshrarebit

Familyjuice said:


> Now, I remember that mango tree was sprayed with something to produce fruit. That could be the problem.



I've never heard of anyone spraying anything on a mango tree to produce fruit. Most trees here are wild and no one sprays or poisins or fertilizes them at all. Somehow they produce fruit all by themselves, most mangoes put out fruit every two years (they skip a year). My FIL has four mango trees behind his house and two put out fruit one year and the other two produce fruit the next year. 

If you are sensitive to mango I wouldn't recommend using this wood. How can you tell if you are sensitive? Cut a mango up and eat it! Did you hands get itchy? You are sensitive if you did. 

Just this past week a county work crew was trimming some mangoes along the roadway in front of my FILs house, yes he has some in the front and some in the back, and I grabbed a few logs to try to smoke. They also trimmed some avocadoes and I got some of that as well. Luckily for me they skipped the mac nut tree growing nearby and I plan on getting that as well.


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## one lucky dogg

dpyro said:


> Was just wondering if mango wood be good for smoking. my neighbor has a tree she wants cut down because its grown to close to her house. thinking i could take the bigger pieces season it then use next year some time. I have no problem getting kiawe wood to smoke with and that is also free. was just wondering .thank yo





Fire it up said:


> I would have thought that it would be fine considering it is a fruit tree but Googling brought this up...
> 
> Mango wood contains a sap that is located at the base of the stem, branches, and trunk. As a result, a recommendation is made never to burn mango wood as it emits a smoke that is full of potent irritants. Plus, Mango trees are highly suseptible to a number of diseases and pest infestations, including the fruit fly, black twig borer, sooty mold, and southern green stink bug to name a few. Pesticide application is generally necessary to maintain the health of these trees. Because of the chemical application, Mango wood does not make for good BBQ! Stick to forest producing products for the safest woods for BBQ!
> 
> So I guess no go on the wood, but you could still cut it down for the neighbor if she is an older lady


Googling it up, may be just another post from one person's opinion and not backed up with scientific data. Fact is, you don't smoke with green wood. It's dry and no sap in the wood when we ship to the U.S. The USDA won't allow it. I have never seen a tree succome to disease here in Costa Rica. I have however seen them up-rooted from a tornado. We have a few down in the Jaco area. As one of the forum poster put it, it's excellent on pork and fish. You also, might want to experiment with a blend on woods such as guava, coffee and macadamia nut.


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## hakamo0o

I will be trying Mango wood soon, I used to spray it with Auxins and Algae extract for it to produce good fruit if that what you are referring to. I am pretty sure that what I am spraying is totally organic since that was the whole point of planting fruits at home in the first place.

Will keep you updated on the smoked result.


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## one lucky dogg

Hakamo0o said:


> I will be trying Mango wood soon, I used to spray it with Auxins and Algae extract for it to produce good fruit if that what you are referring to. I am pretty sure that what I am spraying is totally organic since that was the whole point of planting fruits at home in the first place.
> 
> Will keep you updated on the smoked result.


Please do. I found some cinnamon trees yesterday and will be smoking with it. Will let you know how that turns out.


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## gtstommy

I have a mango tree and get old, dried wood that falls off.  I'm going to try it based on what ppl have said.  I never spray it for anything and there is no sap.  I will let y'all know.


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## gtstommy

I have a mango tree and tried out some smoking with it.  I used very dry, debarked pieces.  The smoke was a bit caustic, but the flavor was excellent!  My wife said it was the best steak she's ever had.  I used charcoal as the primary heat source and added the mango pieces just before the searing.  I only used about 10-12 foot-long, 1/2 inch thick sticks.  Not a complete smoker, but it was good!


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## hakamo0o

As promised, I smoked some chicken wings using some mango wood. I have been drying that wood since last september and now it is pretty dry.

As soon as I added the wood to the coals; a caramel smell evolved which was very pleasant. The wings came out very good.

I do not have any reference to benchmark against since this is my first smoking experience ever, but I am using mango wood again fir sure.


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## gnappi

"I've never heard of anyone spraying anything on a mango tree to produce fruit."

I have three producing mango trees (6 total) and there are some cultivars that are susceptible to anthracnose and do get sprayed with coppercide to get them to fruit. Trees that get anthracnose will not produce fruit. There is also a method to induce flowering where growers use potassium nitrate. A few other chemicals are used in India which caused a long ban on importation into the EU of Indian mangos.

Domestically here in the U.S. many mango cultivars are anthracnose resistant (all of mine are resistant types) and from what I gather if you are not allergic to the fruit, and the wood is seasoned dry there should be no problem. I would not smoke food with mango wood that has been treated with copper spray fungicide.


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## hakamo0o

Some plants and trees like Mango do get attached sometime by aphids, you need to spray those with organophosphate insecticide for a couple of weeks. This would surly ruin your wood for smoking.


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## markbot

I live in Florida and have a mango tree I planted. The fruit is spectacular and delicious. Picking fruit and working and around the tree I got a sever case of poison ivy. Had to go to the doctor and get a prednisone Rx (4 tablets 4 days, 3 tablets 3 days, 2 tablet 2 days, an then one tablet). Cured it right up. No way I'm eating food smoked with mango wood. Growing up I was always very susceptible to getting poison ivy anytime I went out to the woods hunting. I'd say if you are like me and get poison ivy easily steer clear of mango. The chemical urushiol is to blame. It's not in the fruit just leaves, branches and sap.


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## dave schiller

Interesting info about the use of mango wood.  Turns out that it's in the plant family Anacardiaceae, which includes many other species that produce urushiol.  That's the oil that causes skin reactions in many people but not everyone.  The family also includes pistachio and cashew trees.  Hit and miss as to who it affects; some are allergic and some are not.

As a kid, i could catch poison ivy by looking at it.  But now, years later, it doesn't seem to bother me.  Maybe I've built up a resistance or maybe I'm better at recognizing (and avoiding) it.


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