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Why can pine and spruce wood give smoked meat a bitter taste?
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meat processing
A butcher cutting beef.
In the process of smoking meat, it is essential to use hardwood as fuel. Softwoods from conifers, such as pine and spruce, are unsuitable for this purpose because they contain pitch. When burned, this pitch produces a film that coats the meat and imparts a bitter taste, negatively affecting the quality of the final product.1