Processed
Mixed Hardwood
A tier
Mixed-hardwood smoke flavour is a blender's condensate: beech, oak, maple, and whatever the smokehouse had, standardised to a generic "smoked" note. Economy bacons, baked beans, and unnamed "smoke flavour" lines use it. It will not give you a named-wood story, and it should not taste of tar. Useful when the recipe just says smoke. Frustrating when you wanted applewood specifically. Quality still varies—buy a low-PAH food grade, not a barbecue-shop mystery jug.
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Characteristics
Preparations
Traits
History
Industrial meat plants bought mixed-hardwood condensates as a cheapest reliable smoke.
Canned beans and economy bacon standardised on unnamed mixed-hardwood smoke flavour.
PAH limits forced mixed condensates to be as cleaned as named-wood lines.
Named-wood SKUs took the premium shelf; mixed hardwood kept the economy kettle.