About us

Welcome to Smokey Olive Wood!

We use the roots of the olive trees that need to be harvested because the shaker arm of the harvester no longer comes to the trunk of the tree. Previously, the roots were used as firewood and burnt in power plants to generate electricity. SOW works together with various olive farmers who have to harvest a part of the plantation every year. This ensures that enough raw materials is coming in every year to keep production going. Typical types of wood such as beech wood or oak are specially cleared for the wood industry.

We make use of a wood drying oven that is powered by solar panels. First step of drying is done with the sun. It is common to have a drying oven run on wood chips, gas or electricity. SOW uses only a minimal amount of power to drive the pump that allows the heat of the solar panels to circulate. This makes the SOW products in many ways much more sustainable than identical products.

Because SOW uses the roots for the olive wood, we do not need to remove any bark. In wood species such as beech wood the logs are used, this must be debarked before it is processed, resulting in waste.

Everything from the olive root is used. When sawing the chunks, we produce sawdust, which we use for the smoke moth. When shredding what remains after sawing the chunks, different sizes of chips are produced, both the coarse chips Nr 3, the smaller chips nr 2 and also a part of the sawdust No. 1

Introduction

Many restaurants in Málaga have a boat filled with sand on the beach with burning and smoking roots of the olive tree. These boats act as barbecues and are used for the so-called ‘espetos de sardinas’ (grilled sardines) in the well-known ‘chiringuitos’ (outside restaurants on the beach). The ‘espetero’ is the chef who prepares the ‘espetos de sardinas’.

In addition to this dish, various types of fish and seafood are prepared on the sand-filled boats. The delicious scent of smoking olive wood and the prepared seafood and fish species spreads throughout the promenade during dinner time. The light smoky scent of olive wood not only suits fish, but is also very suitable for example chicken, pork or vegetables and even fruit!

Origin

In the olive plantations, a part of the trees is cut annually. The reason is that the olives are largely harvested with machines. These machines work with a so-called shaking arm. If the shaker arm no longer fits around the trunk of the tree or because of the thickness of the trunk the tree is no longer optimally shaken, these trees are grubbed and replaced by younger trees.

The logs are usually processed to make the known objects such as kitchen trays, spoons or decorative items. The root wood is often used as firewood or in power plants to generate electric power.

Smokey Olive Wood uses this root wood to manufacture Chunks, Chips and smoke moth. This means no trees are specially cleared to fabricate our olive wood smoking products.
Because Smokey Olive Wood from olive wood uses the root of the olive trees, we do not need to remove any bark. For wood species such as beech wood, it is the log which is used, which has to be debarked before it is processed, resulting in a lot of waste.

The demand for other exotic types of smoke brought us to Holm oak, Orange wood, Lemon wood, Almond wood and the Spanish Walnut. The Holm oak is the tree that supplies the acorns for the Iberian pigs. The acorns of the Holm oak give the Spanish and world famous ham of these pigs the great and typical taste.

Since dozens of trees are needed for one pig, the wood of the Holm oak is scarce. The fungal disease of this tree also causes major problems. The wood of diseased trees must be destroyed and trees around these diseased trees are often cleared out of precaution to prevent an expansion.

The quality of the Holm Oak wood has been known for centuries and was formerly widely used to build, for example, carriages. In many of the better restaurants this wood is also used as it is very hard and because of this it burns for a long time. The smoke of the wood gives a delicious rustic taste to the grilled or smoked food. This wood is used to smoke foods that have a bit more taste, such as wild, beef, but also pork.

Many almond trees are being grubbed in Spain and replaced by other plants.
This is done because it is very labour-intensive to harvest the almonds. Most almonds come from North Africa where labour costs are lower than in Spain. The quality of the almond tree wood is high. It is a dense wood species that has a long burning time. The smell of the smoke from this wood is powerful and fits perfectly with beef, game or fish such as mackerel for example.

The regions around Valencia are known beyond the borders of Spain for citrus fruits and Paella. This dish dates back to the middle of the 19th century and is traditionally prepared on orange wood or lemon wood. The smoke from these woods gives the dish its traditional taste.

In the plantations the trees are regularly pruned to stimulate growth.
Here, too, Smokey Olive Wood responds. The collection of the wood, which is not specially grubbed for the production of our products, ensures an ecological processing of this product which is actually waste.

Since Citrus wood is not necessarily suitable as firewood, it is a light type of wood; it means that it used to be destroyed originally.Because it is a light type of wood, the advice is to soak the pieces in water or light beer for example. This means that the wood smokes longer and also gives a delicious taste to the food. The smoke from these types of wood gives a light, fruity smoky taste to the food and fits extremely well with fish, pork and chicken.

Sustainable drying

The pre-drying of wood is done with the sun; also the further drying process to produce the ideal end product is achieved entirely by solar panels at Smokey Olive Wood and not using drying ovens that run on woodchips, gas or electricity as usual in our industry.
This makes the Smokey Olive Wood products in many ways much more sustainable than identical products.

Short transport routes

The production facility of Smokey Olive Wood is surrounded by olive yards. This reduces the usual transport routes significantly.

Sustainable packaging

We produce the right size of smoke wood for all possible smokers, smoke ovens, BBQs or grills. We have every necessary size of smoke moth, small chips, large chips and chunks in our assortment.

The packages are tailored to the user. Both a novice smoker and the passionate smoker or professional can find the right packaging at Smokey Olive Wood.

We offer different packages. For the beginner we offer small packages or our EZ smokers. These are small aluminium trays containing 400ml wood chips; very easy to use.
Remove the lid from the tray and place the EZ-Smoker on the hot (gas) BBQ.

The small bags with a capacity of 300-500 ml are ideal for trying different flavours. Thanks to the closing strip, these packaging can be closed and stored again after use.

Large bags, 1500ml-1700ml, are appreciated by passionate BBQers. The amount can be used for several smoke sessions and can be reclosed after use.

In addition to these consumer packs, Smokey Olive Wood also offers catering packaging. This saves a lot of waste and is easier for the professional to use.