apple wood for cooking use.

I brought home a couple of apple trees that blew down recently. No clue as to what type of apple. One was dead standing and the other was rather large compared to the normal size apple trees here, probably 16"+ dia. I never really processed applewood for cooking before and I'm wondering if the standing dead is still viable for that? Also should I remove the bark on the other one to season it ?
Thanks guys!

 

It should all be good. I always remove the bark from smoking wood. It can sometimes leave a bad taste, esp. Hickory.

 

My brother in law owns an apple orchard in upstate New York. He spreads a huge tarp on the ground and runs old, low producing and dead trees through the chipper. He gathers the chips and puts them in 5 and 10 pound bags and sells them for smokers and grills. He does a great business selling chips, but for him it's only about every 5 years or so.

 

I leave the bark on till final use. Not saying it’s the right way, just the way I do it. I wouldn’t consider using any rot and you won’t know what the wood looks like till you cut some.

I love apple for smoking. Pretty sure you will too.

 

I have a brother in law with a couple of crab apple trees and I always get any branches from them that he may trim. I prefer to let it dry out and then use it without the bark.
It does have a little bit more strong smoke flavor to it then some other woods I have used but I do like it.

 

thanks for the replies guys. I'll cut it up and see if I can't make this work. I sure love smoking meat although I'm just a hack at it.

 

To clarify, I remove the bark before smoking. It's usually easier to remove once the wood is dryer.

 

I scrounged some apple couple months ago. Green tree with smaller logs. I CS it, but havent stacked yet. May wanna try my hand at smoking. Let us know how you make out with it Screwloose

 

I use apple, hickory, maple, and oak splitter waste on my smoker. I make sure they are clean and bark free, and smoke away. Enjoy!

 

Yeah it was a big one and quite old, not sure if it was still producing. The area I'm cutting hasn't been opened up for 40+ years and with the new exposure to the wind it toppled. I was surprised how many taller trees have blossoms as I never even thought they were apples. Cutting around them but I don't think they can take the wind exposure.

 

Some of the orchards I’ve cut in were reported to be about 50 years old.