''Binchō-tan'' ( ja, 備長炭), also called white charcoal or ''binchō-zumi,'' is a type of

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, ...

traditionally used in Japanese cooking. Its use dates to the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...

, when, during the

Genroku was a after Jōkyō and before Hōei. The Genroku period spanned the years from the ninth month of 1688 to the third month of 1704. The reigning emperor was .Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). ''Annales des empereurs du japon'', p. 415. The period w ...

era, a craftsman named Bichū-ya Chōzaemon () began to produce it in

Tanabe, Wakayama is a city located in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 70,972 in 35076 households and a population density of 69 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Tanabe is the second largest city in Wakayama ...

. The typical raw material used to make ''binchō-tan'' in Japan is oak, specifically , now the official tree of

Wakayama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Wakayama Prefecture has a population of 944,320 () and has a geographic area of . Wakayama Prefecture borders Osaka Prefecture to the north, and Mie Prefecture and Nara Prefecture ...

. Wakayama continues to be a major producer of high-quality charcoal, with the town of Minabe, Wakayama, producing more ''binchō-tan'' than any other town in Japan. B''inchō-tan'' produced in Wakayama is referred to as ''Kishū binchō-tan'' (), Kishū being the old name of Wakayama. White charcoal is made by pyrolysing wood in a kiln at approximately 240 °C for 120 hours, then raising the temperature to around 1000 °C. Once carbonised, the material is taken out and covered in a damp mixture of earth, sand and ash. Due to its special physical structure, it takes on a whiter or even metallic appearance and apart from being used for cooking, brings benefits to the home, such as absorption of odors. There exists a common misconception amongst restaurants and chefs when promoting their use of ''binchō-tan,'' when restaurants mistakenly refer to a type of Biomass briquettes known as ' oga-tan', as ''binchō-tan.' To differentiate between the aforementioned "non-pure" products, understanding the physical differences between ''binchō-tan and oga-tan is key.'' Oga-tan is a form of compressed sawdust charcoal with angular edges and often consists of a hole in the center. ''Binchō-tan'' is a type of hardwood charcoal which takes the natural shape of the wood that was used to make it. Binchō-tan is also harder than black charcoal, ringing with a metallic sound when struck. Wind chimes and a musical instrument, the ''tankin'' ("charcoal-

xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Like the glockenspiel (which uses metal bars), the xylophone essentially consists of a set of tuned wooden keys arranged in ...

"), have been made from Binchō-tan. Ogatan(JapaneseBriquetteCharcoal)

References

External links

紀州備長炭
—Making of ''Kishū Binchōtan'' by Wakayama Pref.
炭琴
—''Tankin'' ("charcoal-xylophone")

– an article from 2001 touting the benefits of black and white charcoal, the latter including binchōtan {{DEFAULTSORT:Binchotan Allotropes of carbon Fuels Japanese cuisine Japanese culture Charcoal