Learning About Fruit Wood for Aging

[OtisT]

Learning About Fruit Wood for Aging - The Beginning

I seasoned some Apple, Cherry and Plum wood and I plan to experiment with it to learn what I can. I am documenting my tests and ramblings here in this thread, and welcome any input on the subject of using fruit wood in aging spirts. I’m new to using fruit wood for aging and I am starting from scratch, so please keep this in mind; I’m no expert, but I am curious and willing to try most things, so here we go.....

The anecdotal advice I have received on using fruit wood is to use it sparingly, and not to soak product in it too long. I’m guessing this is because it can become overpowering, but I will also keep an eye out for any long term changes in the flavor this may bring to a product.

About the Wood
I started out with this small pile of wood that came from a friend’s rural land. Fruit trees they had harvested fruit off of for years. No chemicals used so I guess that makes the wood organic.

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The logs had been piled outdoor for various lengths of time. Total seasoning time was just over 1 year for the Cherry and Plum, and just over two years for the Apple. I cut the logs into short rounds.

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This is what I split from the logs. I have more Plum/Apple not shown. Wish I had more Cherry. Much of it rotted while seasoning outdoors.

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Observations of the raw split wood
The Cherry stands out in smell. Easy to tell it’s cherry. Others have faint fruity notes to them.
All three are very solid hard wood. Not a lot of open pores noticed in the end grains.
The Apple was the only log to have obvious heart and sap wood. I split only the heartwood.