For some, charcoal is just a means to an end. A fuel. And that's where it stops.

At Big Green Egg, we take great pride in our charcoal — the way it's manufactured, the way we source it, how easy it is to light, how long it burns for, how good it makes your food taste. The end result is so much more than "a way to get your fire going". That's why we call it our secret ingredient.

All our charcoal is made from natural, organic lumpwood (hickory and oak) and sourced from FSC-certified forests that we've worked with for years.

There are no accelerants in our charcoal. It lights easy, and stays lit for ages when it's in an EGG. On a Large EGG, for example, one load of charcoal lasts around 24 hours. That's good fuel economy. And because it's made of only the best lumpwood, it's more than edible; the food you'll make using it will be out of this world.

Keep your lump charcoal somewhere dry, ideally in the garage in an airtight bin. The lumps are extremely dry and light quickly. However, if they become saturated with moisture you may find they're slower to light.

Fold the opened top of the bag over several times. If you have the remnants of an older bag that's several months old, it may be best to use a fresh new bag and add the older charcoal once the fire is going.

Well, that all depends. If you're cooking at a high temperature, you'll use more than if you're cooking at a low one. It also depends on what EGG size you're using; obviously an XL EGG is going to go through charcoal faster than a MiniMax. All that said, on average you'll get around 80 hours of cooking out of a Large bag of charcoal.