Ono Kiawe Hawaiian Charcoal

"Ho ho ho! The volcano explodes, burns everything, and all we do is ship the charred wood remnants to those suckers in Canada!" is what I imagined those sly Hawaiians saying. Why?

I just bought a new bag of charcoal. Ono Kiawe Hawaiian Charcoal. They claim it is a premium, 100% natural charcoal used in the Hawaiian tradition of the Luau. This is a 20 lb. bag. I'm hoping it lasts me one month, but that will depend on how zealous I get with my grilling.

After using up most of my mega tasty Basques Sugar Maple hardwood, I was very excited to try another and see what flavour it adds to my food. I'm always very interested in learning where the wood comes from so I love reading the backs of the bags.

Curiously, the back of the Ono bag states the following:

Created in Hawaii
Product of Mexico

Ah right. Who's the fool? Apparently me. Now, go back to the first paragraph and replace "Hawaiian" with "Mexcian" and "volcano" with "meth lab". Was that racist? I don't care. Those sneaky Hawaxicans tricked me.

Or did they?

No, it's true. This IS Hawaiian. It's kind of like saying "Assembled in China from parts made in the USA." The wood is grown and harvested in Hawaii, then shipped to Mexico where it's turned into charcoal and packaged for shipping across the border.

Just be wary of buying anything larger than what I bought. For example, if you see a 115 lb. bag... and it's moving... and talking to you - avoid it. Unless you need a great deck built. Was that racist? Damn, I keep doing that.

My rude, insulting nature aside, I am very excited to try this charcoal and I'll let you know how it goes.