Are you aware how you can clear, bake, and retailer pine cones(typically spelled pinecones) to allow them to be used for cooking and heating in an emergency? What’s the greatest emergency gas to retailer? Folks ask me this on a regular basis. All of us have completely different budgets, cooking gadgets, and heating choices. A few of us have tiny properties; others have medium-sized or massive properties. After all, we should consider our land and the way a lot room we’ve got to retailer and use the assorted gas varieties accessible. Fashionable Makes use of for Pine Cones
A few of us have residences or cell properties with restricted house for gas storage and the problem of utilizing the fuels we’ve got saved based mostly on fireplace codes and hazards. We additionally should take into account the storage lifetime of the great fuels we need to retailer. There are additionally issues of safety, reminiscent of how a lot we are able to retailer the place we reside. Life is all about storing the perfect emergency gas that matches our residing quarters and the price range we’ve got accessible. I’m updating this put up from just a few years in the past. Some readers have requested me about making ready and utilizing pine cones.
Pine Cones on Golf Course
My husband performs golf and talked about that the golf course has tons of FREE pine cones on the bottom. I like the phrase FREE, so my husband and I went to the golf course one night to collect some pine cones. After all, the climate mentioned it was going to snow that day. For those who haven’t been to Southern Utah to see the attractive pink mountains, you most likely haven’t seen the pink grime.
Sure, it’s pink, and it stains all the pieces. It’s additionally like clay, so it’s sticky and clings to all the pieces. I didn’t need my sneakers coated with moist pink grime, so we hightailed it to the golf course earlier than the storm arrived. The wind was blowing, so the climate felt freezing to me! Beneath, you possibly can see how we gathered them with a 33-gallon black rubbish bag.
Free Pine Cones
I took a collapsible rubbish can and put a big black bag inside earlier than we left to go to the golf course. We weren’t certain how a lot sap the pine cones would nonetheless have on them. Now, you would possibly surprise, “Linda, why would you name pine cones top-of-the-line emergency fuels?”
Right here’s the deal: I’m not a superb fireplace starter. I’ve tried many devices to gentle a fireplace, however I nonetheless want Tinder or FREE pine cones. Don’t get me mistaken, these pine cones are good for extra than simply beginning the fireplace; they burn sooner. I may use these in my Kelly Kettle. Once we had a hearth in our house, Mark would usually use some pine cones to assist get the fireplace going sooner than typical.
Pine cones are additionally nice for my Volcano Range or firepit. We couldn’t retailer a whole lot of wooden in Southern Utah after we lived there due to the termites. Plus, after baking these pine cones, they’re insect-free, and the sap is gone as a part of “baking” them.
Getting ready Pine Cones Earlier than Cooking
As I discussed above, typically the pine cones are coated with grime and different particles that must be cleaned off. You may take the pine cones and soak them within the sink or a big bowl with heat water and presumably somewhat cleaning soap to melt the grime. I’ve heard of individuals utilizing a cop of white vinegar within the water to assist clear. Take a brush to clear off the seen grime by gently scrubbing them. You would possibly even discover just a few pine needles hiding from plain sight.
You’ll need to air-dry the pine cones as soon as they’ve been cleaned. Verify earlier than drying them that you simply even have clear pine cones so that you don’t have baked-on grime after the baking course of.
My buddy Lisa recommended baking the pine cones on cookie sheets coated by aluminum foil to bake within the oven. If there may be a whole lot of sap, utilizing the aluminum foil means you received’t have a whole lot of clean-up after baking them. It labored. I baked the pine cones at 200 levels for two hours by making a single layer of the pine cones on the sheet. The baking course of eliminates any sticky sap and removes any bugs that could be hiding within the core of the pine cone. Parchment paper MAY work on the baking sheet, however I felt the foil was my best choice.
There was some nervousness whereas doing the primary batch as a result of I’d by no means baked pine cones, however I had no issues with baking them. I ensured I had zero pine cones hanging over the cookie sheet as a result of I didn’t need any pine sap drips in my oven.
Baking The Pine Cones
Prepared To Retailer Gasoline
I’m a little bit of a company fanatic. It could possibly be that I’m even somewhat OCD; I don’t know. My wheat is saved with pink Gamma lids, and I exploit yellow ones for my pasta. I made my emergency washing machines with inexperienced lids. Mark and I retailer my Kingsford charcoal in blue buckets with blue Gamma lids. My fireplace starter/greatest emergency gas pine cones are saved in black buckets with black Gamma lids. I order all my black buckets and Gamma Lids from this group: Black Buckets with Gamma Lids.
Storing Pine Cones
Gamma Lids on Buckets
The Gamma lids are two-piece: the ring or band, as you’ll name it, and the implausible screw-on lid itself. It will be greatest to have a rubber mallet and a fabric to fastidiously faucet the “ring or band” on the bucket. These are 5-gallon buckets proven under.
Retailer Pine Cones with Different Gasoline
Kingsford Charcoal Story
I’ve to let you know this story about Kingsford Charcoal. We picked up two baggage of this charcoal to finish my blue bucket storage mission, which I completed with blue Gamma lids. I wished all of them packed and prepared for once I would possibly want them. Please image me at my native grocery retailer. I ran to get my husband’s weekly allotment of bananas for his morning breakfast cereal.
Skip The Lighter Gasoline Charcoal
Whereas I used to be there, I picked up some Kingsford charcoal that was manufactured with out the chemical substances. Please observe that charcoal with out lighter fluid chemical substances could be saved indefinitely in a water-proof/hermetic container. I retailer my oak hardwood lump charcoal in pink buckets with pink Gamma lids. I need a number of kinds of gas for various emergencies.
Once I was able to pay on the checkout counter, the clerk (about 60ish) requested me if I knew why Kingsford Charcoal was known as Kingsford. I mentioned I didn’t know. He confirmed me the bag the place they inform somewhat story behind the identify.
Oh my gosh! I couldn’t cease smiling as a result of I had by no means heard the story and hadn’t seen a part of it on the surface of the bag. We have now a gasoline barbecue, and I solely purchase charcoal for a celebration or tenting up within the mountains.
I ponder if the Boy Scouts or their leaders find out about this story. I’m simply pondering out loud concerning the identify of the charcoal. This assertion is straight from the Kingsford bag, and I quote: “The Historical past Of The Authentic Charcoal: Again in 1920, Kingsford Charcoal repurposed wooden scraps from the manufacturing of Ford Mannequin T’s into charcoal briquets.
Made within the USA. At present, Kingsford stays the main producer of charcoal within the U.S., yearly turning 1 million tons of actual wooden scraps into the genuine charcoal briquets America loves.”
Charcoal briquettes vs Lump charcoal:
What’s briquette charcoal?
Charcoal has been pressed into related sizes with spherical, uniform shapes. That is what we normally consider as BBQ gas.
What’s lump charcoal?
It’s typically charred wooden gas that isn’t fashioned into uniform shapes. It’s pure tree lumber that’s burned in a kiln.
Which has extra ashes: lump charcoal or briquettes?
Briquettes have extra ashes as a result of they’re pressed into kinds, and the lump charcoal is of course charred tree lumber by way of a kiln.
Which product has extra constant warmth?
Briquettes as a result of they’re uniform in measurement, due to this fact heating extra evenly.
How does the worth examine between the 2?
This may range broadly as a result of some lump charcoal could be made out of wooden from pine bushes, pecan, oak, or no matter wooden is pure for the world the place it’s being bought. Some woods are dearer, relying on the place you buy them and their availability.
They’re usually dearer than briquettes. Word that the charcoal comprised of softwoods tends to burn sooner, and the more durable woods are likely to burn slower and longer, so plan based mostly on what you’ll be cooking and the specified outcomes.
Cooking With A Butane Range:
We nonetheless open a window to let some contemporary air in simply to be protected when utilizing a butane range. I used to make use of these stoves in lessons the place I taught meals storage-type lessons or emergency cooking lessons. Mark and I additionally used this range for six weeks, together with our photo voltaic Solar Oven, after we have been ready for our gasoline range to be put in within the kitchen. We’re so glad we changed our glass-top electrical range.
I’ve all the time most popular cooking with pure gasoline as a result of you possibly can management the warmth extra constantly and since it tends to be inexpensive to make use of. Additionally, I haven’t discovered a glass-top range to accommodate the warmth generated throughout my annual canning. Some could also be engineered that approach, however I haven’t discovered one.
It’s been enjoyable cooking with gasoline once more. As soon as the harvest season is right here, we’ll talk about correct canning methods later this 12 months and how you can benefit from the fruit and vegetable crops we’ve grown in our backyard or these present in our native shops or farmers’ markets. The gasoline range makes it doable to can and stress cook dinner, which I couldn’t do with the outdated glass high. Butane Range and Butane Gasoline
Can I exploit the cleaned pine cones to do my vacation crafting?
Vacation decorations like Christmas tree ornaments comprised of pine cones can prove stunning. Pine cone crafts may embody wreaths, garlands, and residential decor additions by inserting them in bowls, baskets, or steel tubs. The method of cleansing and baking them makes for a safer decor product for indoor use because you don’t have to fret about bugs. Contemporary pine cones off the tree can odor fantastic, however you do must concern your self with bugs.
I’ve some pine cone wreaths I put out yearly through the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. I like DIY craft initiatives, together with these utilizing pine cones.
Remaining Phrase
Please retailer pine cones for those who can entry them for FREE! Might God bless this world, Linda
