One of my friends once said as he looked over his personal library, “When I have a lot of good books I feel wealthy.” I feel the same way about firewood but different types of firewood have different characteristics. Some burn fast with intense heat and some burn slow and ooze heat throughout the night. Others kick off too many sparks or smoke. Some wood such as hickory or maple, are great for smoking meats while evergreens like pine or spruce will leave your pork chop with a Pine-Sol flavor.

It’s good to have a hefty stack of firewood on hand even if you do not heat your home with it. It’s good to have around for backyard campfires and for daylong barbecue parties. If there is a power outage for a few days, who cares? It means you get to have a few days of camaraderie around the campfire with family and neighbors and get to dine on lots of wood-smoked meats and aluminum foil dinners. And don’t forget the marshmallows.

The Top Picks

You should have a mix of firewood for different purposes. Use fast-burning wood like aspen and pine for cheery campfires that provide comfort against the darkness. Use wood from the oak family for heavy-duty, long-burning heat. And then there is the top-shelf wood, the kind of wood that has both excellent heat radiation and sweet-flavored smoke for cooking. Keep this separate from the others and use it sparingly. It’s too good to waste for frivolous burning.

Apple

Apple, like many fruit-bearing trees such as black cherry, have excellent all-around qualities. If you live near an orchard, ask the farmer if you can help out with pruning and can keep the limbs.

Maple and Hickory

Two of the gold standards among pro-barbecue teams. Both species are plentiful and widespread across much of North America.

Mesquite

Nicknamed “Texas Ironwood,” this tough tree is plentiful in the American southwest. It has long-burning coals and a lovely smoke flavor.