First of all, let us explain that during the pandemic,
El Salvador shut down and FOGO
was forced to supply some of its charcoal
from Mexico. Now that El Salvador has opened back up, FOGO is again able to source its charcoal from El Salvador. It took some
time for the Mexico charcoal to make its way through the supply line, so if you want to make sure you are buying the charcoal that
is covered by this review, look for the "Made In El Salvador" below the UPC label.
The wood this charcoal is made from (a Central American evergreen Oak species) comes from El Salvador, and the charcoal is made in
El Salvador as well. We have
thoughtfully provided you with a map to the right. Click on the thumbnail to view a larger sized image.
The charcoal comes in 17.6-pound (9.0 kilogram) bags. Based on comments from the manufacturer that the Super Premium charcoal was
designed to have larger pieces than their Premium charcoal, we anticipated some large pieces. We were not disappointed.
As you can
see from the table below, the size distribution was stellar. The vast majority of the bag was comprised of large and medium-sized
pieces with almost half the bag being medium-sized pieces. Less than 10% of the
bag consisted of small pieces and the less-than-5% content of chips and dust is Very Low compared to other brands.
So all in all the bag had a great distribution of sizes, something for everyone.
| Large |
6.8 pounds |
39.1% |
| Medium |
8.3 pounds |
47.9% |
| Small |
1.4 pounds |
8.1% |
| Chips/Dust |
0.9 pounds |
4.9% |
|
|
|
| Total |
17.4 pounds |
|
|
Lighting the charcoal was insanely easy, taking only 2 sheets of newspaper in our chimney starter test. This is Very Low
compared to other brands. While the charcoal was starting in the chimney, there was no sparking or popping.
The fire was extremely quick to spread and the charcoal burned with a mild and pleasant smoke.
In our maximum temperature test, we dump the charcoal from the chimney starter into a cooker, add more charcoal, let the
fire build and then watch for the maximum temperature. While the fire was building and burning, again there was no sparking
and very little popping. The charcoal burned at a maximum temperature of 987°F, which is Very High compared to other brands.
Also, while lighting with a MAPP torch, there was very little popping and sparking overall, but we did experience one of the most
violent pops we've ever seen. This was quite a surprise since we had seen little to no sparking and popping in the chimney starter
or while the charcoal was burning in the cooker. So (repeat after us) always exercise care when using a MAPP or propane torch
to light lump charcoal.
In our burn time test, FOGO Super Premium lump burned a long time, Very High compared to other brands and in the top 10. The ash production
was Low compared to other brands we have tested.
And before we sum this all up, we have one more observation regarding the smoke from this charcoal. We don't always do this, but
in this case we chose to cook a chicken breast using only the FOGO Super Premium charcoal to see what flavor it imparts to the food.
The result was a very mild flavor, something that should please cooks with family members who don't like a lot of smoke.
So, to sum it up, this charcoal has a fantastic size distribution, and burns a very long time with low ash production.
It is extremely easy to light and burns extremely hot while giving food a very mild and pleasant flavor. We give it our
Highly Recommended rating.
