# Is cherry wood safe



## brokenwing

My uncle works for a custom stair bulding company, and brought me home a whole bag of cut up cherry wood.  It has no glue or anything in it.  His boss told him that cherry wood has arsenic in it, is this true or false.  I smoked a ham with it, and it tasted good lol.  I am really curious now, i thought the only wood that had arsenic in it was pressure treated, and of course we dont smoke with that.  I have 3 hams, and a turkey to  smoke, so im curious.  Thanks everyone.


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## scarbelly

I have used cherry chunks and sawdust many times and I really like the flavor it imparts. Unless it has been altered in some way chemically I would use it - just my .02


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## coacher72

As long as it hasn't been treated it should be fine.


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## nwdave

Cherry wood?  Like Scarbelly says if it's unaltered during the processing from mill to you, it's a great smoking wood.  I have lots of chips, chunks, sawdust, etc of cherry wood.  It is a great find for you.


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## mballi3011

No that cherry wood has Arsenic in and it's not good for anything but sending it to Florida and we have a special way of disposing of it here. It's legal here to burn it but only in smoker type incinerators thou. So let me know and I'll send you my address / I mean the adress to the incinerators place to get rid if it. I got your back buddy


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## pineywoods

Mike as they say if the wood hasn't been treated with anything since being cut from the woods its a great smoking wood. I use cherry a lot and actually have about a dozen cherry trees on the ground waiting to be cut and split up at the camp.


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## jmk3921

.


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## arnie

Brokenwing,

Please be advised that mballi3011 and I are the only ones who have your best interest in mind. We are also the only ones with access to the only two proper smoker disposal devices for errant pieces of cherry wood. The use of cherry wood during the process of smoking meat will impart a taste to the meat like no other wood used for the purpose of smoking meat.

I am sure the cherry wood disposal system that mball3011 has access to is adequate for proper use disposal of cherry wood, but I feel certain since you are an avid outdoorsman you would feel much better sending all that nasty cherry wood to me in Iowa for use disposal in a properly designed smoker devise


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## brokenwing

Lol you guys are a trip!  Anyway the wood i get from the wood shop in not altered in anyway straight from the mill, they cut it down, and shape it.  I did a ham with cajun seasoning, and smoked it in cherry and it was the best ham i have done yet.  So thanks for all the quick responses.  I appologize for not posting much here lately, or being in the chat, life just got real busy.  I miss talking to you all, and have a Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year.


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## bill in mn

Cherry is a great smoking wood.It's not a native tree here in central Minnesota but I get it at one of the home stores and always have some on hand. 

One of the best rib joints I have been to uses nothing but cherry for their ribs, Smoky D's in Des Moines Iowa and they do ribs right. Bill


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## bbqfarmer

Cherry is a very popular smoking wood.


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## g-mans bbq

Cherry wood is #1 followed by pecan, red or white oak maples and apple for me...


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## bbq bob

Has anyone ever used persimmon wood for smoking pork, ribs, chicken, etc?


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## big lew bbq

If its natural Cherry wood with no additives then use it....if it has be treated or your not sure its been treated, then i would be on the safe side and not use it.. Your call.

Big Lew BBQ


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## woodman3

http://www.smokinlicious.com/blog/?p=81

Follow this link.  It may answer your question directly.


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## upnorth101

Cherry wood iS native to Minnesota


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## a g k

Cherry wood is fine for smoking meat etc. BUT cherry pits can be toxic if enough are swallowed. I purchased a 40# bag for $5.00 locally and tried a small amount mixed with sawdust in some homemade pucks for my Bradley. Think you would have to use a lot of pits to be a problem & also think its the seeds that are toxic & not the pits themselves. Didn't notice any difference with the crushed pits mixed into the sawdust compared to the ones I made from cherry sawdust. For what its worth.

A G K


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## upnorth101

cedar is toxic also but they still cook with it in restaurants


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## hoity toit

Why would stores sell it if it was toxic.? I use it on prime rib and haven't died yet.

Dexter


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## a g k

I was told they sell the cherry pits for pellet stoves to heat buildings & they burn hotter than pellets. Any smoke goes out the chimney on such applications & does not come in contact with any food.

*A G K*


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## wnc goater

Probably what the confusion is,  wild cherry leaves, when wilted, produce cyanide.  It has been know to kill goats or other animals that eat enough of the leaves, which by the way, the cyanide produces a sweet taste that is attractive to goats. 

I cannot imagine the wood itself has any toxins in it.  I know some woods like black walnut and mahogany can produce some toxins, and rhododendron smoke can be poisonous and as I understand it, if you cook over rhododendron wood (or mountain laurel) you'll get some bad "results" lol .  FWIW, rhododendron leaves will also poison livestock if enough are ingested.


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## nvrnvrlnd

Alright, for all you non-chemists out there, it's not arsenic, it's cyanide and it's only in the pits and leaves. The wood is clean, don't worry about it or peach or apricot, which have the same. Nectarine, plum, basically anything that has a pit in the fruit, actually almond, and it's a cyanide derivative that gives it its flavor, but you can't eat enough almonds, you can eat too much of the pits of some varieties of peaches, so using peach pits for smoke might not be a good idea. Better living through chemistry.


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## joe black

I notice that the bad bad cherry disposal offers that you have had are from Florida and Iowa.  I just thought that it was my duty to let you know that I am in SC and your freight charges from Maryland would be much less if you used our services here in SC.  If you choose to keep your bad bad cherry, you need to know that the next ham that you smoke with it will have a definite pork flavor.  Good luck and good smokin.


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## nvrnvrlnd

Now I'm in Texas, so I'd be closer and I think it might mix well with my Pecan. I could probably dispose of quite a bit in a controlled burn. I'd be more than willing to trade a truckload of mesquite for a load of cherry any day. I think mesquite smoke smells like diesel fuel. Most people down here won't use it unless that's all there is. Good fruitwood is hard to find and citrus trees are terrible. Actually, I need to get back up to East Texas where I have an apple tree to harvest. Apple is by far the best smoking wood ever. That tree is huge, half dead with fire blight and the owner wants it gone. Even if I split it with my partner, there's enough wood to last me for the rest of my life. We're talking a tree that's 2 ft.in diameter, 30 ft. tall with a canopy that's over 50'.  That's a lot of smoking wood.


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## joe black

Nvr,

I bet that was also a lot of apples.  The question that I have, what part of Texas is closer to Maryland than SC?


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## nvrnvrlnd

I misread after too much bourbon.  I thought the cherry was coming out of Iowa. I've found in the past that sweet cherry is good, wild cherry is better, but sour cherry, like Montmorency, can be a bit on the acrid side. One year I was making chipotles with various woods, apple, peach, apricot and sour cherry.  I sold a lot of them at the farmers' market and had quite a few people who bought a small bag of each and the universal opinion later was that apple was the best and cherry was the worst, but they all beat the Mexican oak smoked ones. Peach and apricot were virtually indistinguishable. My mother's pear tree bit the dust the next year and it was very similar to apple.


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## notquitevegan

What is the going rate for cherry wood? Do you know where you can order it without getting killed on shipping? Not just wood chips though.


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## mdgirlinfl

notquitevegan said:


> What is the going rate for cherry wood? Do you know where you can order it without getting killed on shipping? Not just wood chips though.



I just saw bagged cherry chips at the local publix.  I guess I should have grabbed a bag to test. 


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## mdgirlinfl

I have a cousin that is from Maryland and is a long haul trucker.  If you need a reliable transport to move that cherry wood to a safe distance, I can have him pick it up next time he comes through on his way back down to Florida.  We have a proper disposal site very nearby. [emoji]128526[/emoji]


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## koldsmoker

you alive, speaks for itself. smoke on brother.


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