Big Green Egg has, in the past year, brought out two new types of lump charcoal. The first was the Brazilian
hardwood lump charcoal made from the wood of the Eucalyptus tree. More recently they have begun selling
lump charcoal made in Canada from Canadian maple. So, as usual, we have provided a map to the right showing
the location of Canada.
Now, you will be forgiven if you haven't seen this lump charcoal for sale yet. According to Big Green Egg,
the maple charcoal is available in Canada and select markets in the US at the moment, but distribution will
be expanded this year within the US. Unfortunately there were supply chain issues in 2020 and early 2021.
We hope that we won't be spoiling any surprises if we say that a supply of Big Green Egg Canadian Maple
charcoal can't come too soon. So, let's get started on this review and see how this charcoal performs.
As usual, the first thing we do is dump the charcoal out onto the ground and examine it for any signs of
scrap wood or other things that don't belong in a bag of charcoal. We found nothing but maple charcoal.
Next, we sort the charcoal by size and record the weight of each size. You can see the results of this
sorting in the following table:
Large |
4.4 pounds |
24.3% |
Medium |
10.3 pounds |
56.8% |
Small |
2.5 pounds |
13.4% |
Chips/Dust |
1.0 pounds |
5.5% |
|
|
|
Total |
18.2 pounds |
|
|
As you can see, the size distribution is excellent. Only 20% of the bag is small pieces or
chips and dust. The other 80% of the bag consists of medium and large pieces. No logs, a
goodly number of pieces around the size of a softball. The 5.5% by weight of chips and dust
is Low compared to all other brands.
Next comes the test where we look at how hard the charcoal is to light. BGE Canadian Maple is
insanely easy to light taking only 2 sheets of newspaper in our chimney starter test. This is
Very Low compared to other brands. While
the charcoal was starting, there was a moderate amount of sparking (sort of like a sparkler) and
no significant popping. The smell of the burning charcoal is mild and pleasant.
In our maximum temperature test, this charcoal burned at a scorching 1209°F which is Very High
compared to other brands. While the fire was burning, there was very little sparking and popping,
and the fire spread with a moderate speed.
The next test is our burn time test and BGE Canadian Maple lump charcoal burned an extremely long
time. In fact, as of this writing, it tied for sixth place all time on our list of lump charcoals
that we have done burn tests for. Needless to say, this is Very High, compared to other brands. While
lighting with a MAP/Pro torch, there were lots of sparks and a few mild pops. As always, when using a
torch of any kind to light lump charcoal, take appropriate precautions so as to avoid injury.
Finally, the ash produced by this charcoal is Low compared to other brands.
Before we render out rating, we'll mention that we did try cooking with this charcoal to see what the
flavor was like. Using only this charcoal and no smoking wood chunks or chips, we cooked a chicken
breast and tasted the results. The smoke flavor was very mild and we can imagine that this charcoal
would be a good one for cooks with family members who don't like smoke.
So, it turns out the Big Green Egg has a real winner with this Canadian Maple lump charcoal. At first
glance, you might balk at the high price, but when you look at the price per hour of burntime, BGE Canadian
Maple Lump Charcoal is comparable to and even below many other premium brands of charcoal. Add to that the
excellent size distribution, the ease of lighting, its ability to burn very hot and its low ash production,
we give this charcoal our highest rating, Highly Recommended.