You Won’t Believe Who Created the First Charcoal Briquettes

With all the cook outs going on over this Memorial Day weekend, I thought it might be fun to find out just who came up with idea of the charcoal briquette.  So if you find it interesting just read on.  In 1920, Henry Ford created the charcoal briquette from the wood scraps and sawdust from his car factory. Ford found that he could use the charcoal for a clean smoke free source of heat.  Of course, Henry's main motivation was money, but he hated to see anything go to waste.

It is said that 610 pounds of charcoal was reclaimed per ton of scrap wood and manufactured into charcoal briquettes. For many years, Ford Charcoal Briquets could be purchased only at Ford automobile showrooms around the country.

So this weekend, as you light up your charcoal briquettes and wait for them to heat  up to cooking temperature, I hope you take the time to tip your chef's hat to the memory of Mr. Ford.