Charcoal: The types and characteristics

Charcoal, the fuel of your barbecue

In this article, we will cover the following topics:

• What exactly is charcoal, and what is it made of?
• What different types of charcoal are there?
• Which type of charcoal is best suited for which cooking method?
• A closer look at different brands.

With the huge variety of charcoal available, it can sometimes be difficult to see the forest for the trees. To help you get started, I will be carrying out a number of tests over the coming period to evaluate different types of charcoal. These tests will cover things such as the composition (large and small pieces), burn time, temperature, and any unwanted smells. Would you like me to test anything else as well? Let me know!

What exactly is charcoal? What is it made of?

Charcoal is essentially nothing more than wood that has been heated under oxygen-deprived conditions. What remains after this process is the charcoal we know and use.

Charcoal consists of several different components. The largest component is carbon. In addition, it contains ash, which you often find at the bottom of your charcoal bag, residual moisture, and potentially some gaseous compounds. The latter are not always particularly pleasant. These can include tar and certain natural compounds that can produce unpleasant smells when heated.

What different types are there?

There are several different types of charcoal. Broadly speaking, we can distinguish between softer and harder charcoal.

Soft charcoal burns for a shorter period of time, but reaches cooking temperature more quickly. This makes it ideal when you want to get your barbecue up and running quickly. It also produces a mild smoky flavour. Common types of wood used for this kind of charcoal include acacia (Black Wattle), birch, beech, and oak. It is worth noting that Black Wattle is often considered an all-rounder, with characteristics that place it somewhere between soft and hard charcoal.

Harder charcoal burns for longer and takes more time to reach cooking temperature. This type of charcoal is intended for longer barbecue sessions. Well-known varieties include Marabu, Quebracho, and Binchotan.

See the table below for a comparison of their different properties.

There are many different brands offering charcoal. This will be a living table that I will continue to expand over time with data from the different bags of charcoal I test.

Interested and looking to order a bag of charcoal? Then take a look at the different bags of charcoal I have available.