Kishu Binchotan Charcoal
Price is per kg
Minimum order quantity: 1kg
Bame Chumaru: ~4cm Thickness
Bame Jokomaru: ~3 to 4cm Thickness
Bame Komaru: ~2 to 3cm Thickness
Bame Hanmaru: ~Ragged Thickness
What is Binchotan?
Binchotan means charcoal in Japanese. However, this Binchotan, or sometimes referred to as bincho zumi, is a particular type of charcoal that is a long-burning, clean, and natural alternative to charcoal briquettes.
While much more expensive compared to your ordinary charcoals in the market, this flameless charcoal produces intensive heat, burns cleanly, giving off no odor, and cooks at a lower temperature than other types of charcoal, making the outside of material crispy without drying it out.
This log-shaped charcoal is made from various oak that combines the best aspects of lump charcoal and briquettes. The smoke it produces gives a distinct enticing flavor. The heat of Binchotan is so intense that it could actually create a hole in a pan like an infrared ray hitting the center.
This charcoal is dried and stacked into brick ovens and taken to four different temperatures, two hundred degrees, four hundred degrees, five hundred fifty degrees, and nine hundred degrees Celsius, for 8 weeks. For the last stage, they rapidly add air so that the heat reaches one thousand two hundred degrees Celsius, which carbonized it and permanently changes the charcoal's internal structure.
Kishu Binchotan
Kishu Binchotan is a charcoal that is a regional collective trademark of the Wakayama Prefecture Charcoal Cooperative.
Only white charcoal made in Wakayama prefecture from oak natural wood, mainly Ubamegashi, can be sold as Kishu Bincho charcoal.
The charcol which is only made of Ubamegashi wood can be called "Bame". Ubamegashi is a type of oak wood, it's almost same with oak wood charcol but Kishu-binchotan was mainly made of Ubamegashi before. So people has a image of Kishu-binchotan = Ubamegashi wood and for the reason its one of the popular style.
The higher quality of Kishu Binchotan, the harder it is, and the tighter the charcoal, the harder it is to ignite, but on the other hand, once it ignites, it will continue to burn stably for a long time. It is hard to burn and has a high amount of infrared rays, so the surface is baked evenly and quickly. It is highly evaluated in many Japanese charcoal-grilled dishes, and has been popular as a charcoal favorite by cooks for a long time.