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About the Smoking Wood Chips Sampler Pack

Every guide describes smoking woods a little differently, so the easiest way to choose between types of wood is to taste them. This sampler has twelve woods in separate packets: alder, apple, ash, beech, bourbon oak, cherry, hickory, maple, mesquite, oak, pecan and spruce.

Each packet holds 30g to 50g of chips, enough for about four smokes. The tasting notes suggest pairings for fish, poultry, pork, beef, cheese and vegetables.

They're fine grade chips, which suit smoking ovens and stovetop smokers. When you find a favourite, buy it in a larger pack.

One packet needs a word of its own: spruce. It's a resinous softwood, and smoking guides advise against pine, spruce and fir for food, because the sap gives a harsh, bitter smoke that can also irritate the lungs. We recommend leaving that packet out; the other eleven are hardwoods and fruit woods.

This wood smoking chips variety pack runs from gentle to bold. Alder and beech are light and work well with fish. Apple, cherry and maple add sweetness to pork and poultry. Oak goes with most meats, pecan is a nutty member of the hickory family, usually gentler than hickory, and hickory and mesquite are the strongest, so use those sparingly at first.

Using wood chips for smoking food is simple, but small changes make a real difference. Smoke the same food with two different woods and compare the results, then write down the wood and timing. Thin blue smoke gives a clean flavour, so use less rather than more. They're not ideal as BBQ smoking chips: for a barbecue smoker box, coarse chips are the better grade, because fine chips burn away too quickly on that heat.

Because this smoker wood chips variety pack comes in small packets, you won't be left with a big bag of smoking wood you don't enjoy. Keep them sealed somewhere cool and dry between uses.