Charcoal Home
How is charcoal made?
5 easy steps to making charcoal in a kiln.
Why choose locally produced charcoal?
1) Superior quality barbecue fuel in comparison to imported charcoal because:
- less flame & humidity so safer and cooks/sears rather than singes
- easier to light, requiring no lighter fuel or fire lighters which can taint the flavour of food
- reaches cooking temperature much quicker, within 15 minutes (this is due to the fact that the woods used (e.g. Mangrove trees) are denser woods processed at lower heats creating higher yields of charcoal but which results in a lower carbon content than your local charcoal. The lower the carbon, the harder to ignite and a slower/cooler burn is the result).
2) Locally produced charcoal is good for the environment and for local wildlife.
- British woodlands have drastically declined in the last one hundred years, but woodcolliers (charcoal makers) use wood from local hardwoods and coppiced woodlands, significantly contributing to the sustainable management and protection of our woodland habitats for wildlife and for generations to come
- Nine out of ten bags of charcoal sold in the UK come from overseas, predominantly from endangered tropical rainforest and mangrove habitats of South America, West Africa and South East Asia. Huge environmental damage is caused by unsustainable deforestation and the resulting forest fires and floods in these regions. In the past twenty years, about half of the earth's mangrove swamps have been destroyed. To make matters worse, their loss is also linked to coral reef destruction. In addition, we add to the negative environmental impact through the consumption of fossil fuels transporting charcoal so far around the world to the UK..
3) The local economy
- Buying local charcoal supports local jobs. For the local economy, a pound spent in a locally-owned business will typically be worth 1.7 times a pound spent on other businesses.
- In contrast, buying imported charcoal not only takes money out of the local community, but can support the deterioration of other communities elsewhere. It is an unfortunate fact that the majority of people producing charcoal in developing countries are not only destroying their local ecology but are also receiving very poor payment for doing so. A United Nations report has shown that of the £2.80 retail price for imported charcoal, less than £0.10 goes to the charcoal burner. With a commodity such as charcoal, the greatest proportion of profit goes to the importers in this country, with much of the money that does go to the country of production remaining in the hands of a few businessmen. Whilst we continue to import charcoal in a non "Fair Trade" manner, we effectively condone such practices and ultimately undermine local jobs.
3) Reducing global warming
- Local charcoal is produced, delivered and utilised locally in the UK. The alternative of imported charcoal requires long-haul global transportation which has been shown to increase fossil fuel consumption by over 85%.
- 95% of charcoal sold in Britain is imported. 40,000 tons of it arrives annually, by air, from the other side of the world, generating greenhouse gases. It is often the by-product of destructive tropical logging.
- How can it be environmentally friendly if it is transported halfway around the world?
4) Maintaining traditional rural crafts
- Charcoal was the world’s first industrial fuel (for metal working). It has been produced and used in the UK over much of the last five thousand years.
- In the year 1282 there were nine hundred charcoal burners in the Forest of Dean alone; in 2002 there were less than three hundred in the whole of the UK.
- Thankfully, a recognition of the benefits of coppiced woodland and ecological impacts associated with imported charcoal is helping to support these woodcolliers, maintaining local jobs and craft skills.
- Small and mobile metal kilns, introduced after the First World War to reduce the burn time to less than 24 hours, increase yields and improve safety, are now most often used instead of the traditional clamp, yet all the skills and experience are still needed to control the burn and the resulting quality of the charcoal.
- Many people believe that retaining our countryside heritage with locally based industries promotes a greater sense of wellbeing amongst the community, forging links between our pasts and our futures.
- Over the last few decades the ancient woodland industry of charcoal burning has been relegated to museums, while we continue to import charcoal from tropical rainforest swamps
Remember - think local when you buy charcoal!
By local charcoal, we mean charcoal made using sustainably managed native hardwoods harvested and produced locally to you on a small scale by local skilled craftsmen..
