the.com/charcoal
burned wood that becomes the cleanest fire, the boldest drawing, and your stomach's bouncer
means A black, porous form of carbon made by heating wood (or other organic matter) without enough air to let it fully burn — used as fuel, as a drawing medium, and as a filter or absorbent.
from From Middle English 'charcole.' The 'coal' part is plainly coal in its older sense of 'glowing ember or charred fuel.' The 'char-' part is the puzzle: it may come from an Old French word for 'to burn' or 'cook,' or possibly from the Old English verb 'cerran' meaning 'to turn' (as in turning wood into coal) — both stories are offered, neither is certain. What's clear is that long before it meant grey or burnt, 'char' lived on as a verb in its own right: to char is simply to make charcoal happen.
- medical use
- swallowed to trap poisons before they reach your blood
- cave art
- sketched the oldest human drawings, 40,000 years old
- burns hotter
- reaches grilling temps wood smoke never could
- making it
- wood cooked without oxygen, leaving near-pure carbon
- gunpowder
- one of three ingredients that armed empires
kingsford charcoal — largest charcoal briquette producer in us, founded 1921
japanese binchotan — premium hardwood charcoal from kishu region, used for grilling and air purification
willow charcoal — artist's medium made from willow wood, standard for drawing and sketching since renaissance