Is Fig Wood Good For Smoking Meat?

Smoking meat is pretty slow-going. It can take over 20 hours to smoke red meat BBQ perfectly. But, the final results are well worth it… especially if you’ve paired your food with the ideal wood.

And why is that? Well, because different timbers add different smoky flavors.

Take for example, fig wood. This tree, despite not technically being a ‘fruit-bearing’ tree, is a mild smoking wood with a unique flavor.

So, could fig wood be the right smoking wood for your next BBQ?

Well, in this post, you’ll learn what kind of flavor smoking fig wood can give to food. You will also learn what you need to do to make sure this timber burns cleanly in your smoker.

Can You Use Fig Tree Wood To Smoke Meat?

Fig tree wood is a great choice for giving meat a mild smoky flavor.

The smoke produced by this trees lumber gives meat a mild sweet taste. This is typical of smoking woods that come from trees that bear sweet edible food, such as Apple wood and Peach wood. But, what makes fig wood flavor unique, is that it has a touch of almost-cinnamon to it.

Now, this makes fig wood unsuitable for beef and other red meats. But, fig wood is great for smoking poultry such as chicken and turkey. And it can also be used to smoke fish and pork ribs too.

Related Post: Is Ash Wood Good For Smoking Meat?

And What Wood Can I Use If I Want A Stronger Smoky Flavor?

Your best choice for a strong and intense smoking wood simply has to be Hickory wood. It is the best wood for slow-cooking heavy meats.

What’s more, you can mix Hickory wood with Fig wood, to create a less intense smoky taste.

But Is It Safe To Smoke Meat With Fig Wood?

Well, when it comes to smoking wood, you need to avoid using any wood filled with tree sap/pitch.

Wood that has a lot of tree resins in it, aren’t great for smoking meat with. That’s because those resins will vaporize and end up infusing into meat.

When meat gets ‘flavored’ with tree sap/pitch, it pretty much leaves your food tasting really bad. And, in some cases, eating that sap-infused meat can make you feel ill.

So, sap-saturated woods, such as Cedar and Pine, are really poor choices for smoking meat.

Nonetheless, when it comes to fig wood, this wood isn’t filled with tree resins, so it’s fine for smoking meat.

Related Post: Is Mulberry Wood Good For Smoking Meat?

Is Fig Wood The Mildest Wood For Smoking?

Trees that produce fruits — particularly fruits that are naturally very sweet — tend to produce smoke that gives meat a mildly sweet taste.

Now, while figs aren’t fruits, (they’re more of a curious tree flower), they are still edible and naturally sweetened.

Which is why, if you want a mild smoking wood, you can put fig trees right alongside other fruit-bearing trees. So, like Apple and Plum wood, fig wood is a great choice if you want to add a mild smoky taste to your food.

Can You Mix Fig Wood With Other Smoking Woods?

Fig wood can take the intensity off of very strong smoking timbers such as Walnut and Mesquite.

It’ll soften the bitterness of those sometimes fairly harsh tasting smoking woods.

And What Can You Do To Make Fig Wood Burn Clean And Smoke Better?

Well, you need to always control the amount of smoke produced by any wood in your smoker. And if wood has too much moisture in it, it’ll make it difficult for you to manage that smoke.

If you smoke meat with wood that isn’t dry enough, then that timber will produce too much thick smoke. So, it’s essential that you only use seasoned fig wood.

Seasoned wood is what we call freshly cut lumber that has been left to dry for a number of months. And it takes around 6-12 months for wood to season, and fig wood is no exception.

Related Post: How To Season Wood (7 Tips)

To Sum Up, Here Are the 3 Key Takeaways From This Post…

• 1). Fig wood is a mild sweet smoking wood. It pairs well with chicken, and turkey.
• 2). You can mix Fig wood with stronger smoking woods such as Hickory and Oak.
• 3). Always allow wood to dry out first before using it in your smoker. This will make it easier for you to control the smoke.