Preparing Dogwood

[DevnChip]

My folks took down their dogwoods, which I'm sure were not treated. I'm in the process of cleaning and baking. My question in preparing them is this. It's coming into spring and these trees were budding. Do I remove the buds or can they be left on for the chin to enjoy?

Hubby came home today and wanted to know what I was making. It smells good.

 

[SamiJami]

I was told a while ago to remove the buds, so I do.

 

[DevnChip]

Works for me. They seem to mostly be falling off anyway. Thanks!

 

[rockergurlanimalluvr]

how exactly do I clean/bake the wood? I have a dogwood in my yard and its really big for the type of tree its never been sprayed with anything and is very safe but i dont know how to prepare it for my chinchilla

 

[mishellyshel]

Trim the branched down to a manageable size. Scrub the with a brush to remove and lichen, dirt, etc. And then I give all my wood a short 2minute boil bath in case I missed anything while scrubbing. Not too long or it affects the flavor. Then I spread them on a baking sheet and bake the twigs at 175 for about 2 hours & the real thick branches I will do at 200 for 2 hours. Usually the bark gets s little wrinkly. I haven't done dogwood in a while do I don't truly remember the bark but my other woods get wrinkly. Also typically I will shut off the oven & leave them in there overnight.

 

[SamiJami]

I precut my sticks, fill my sink with the hottest water and let a bunch soak until the water is cool enough for my hands. I then use the green part of the Scotch Bright sponges to scrub them. You can buy just the green scouring part. After I'm done scrubbing, I throw the sticks into a pot. Once the pot is about 3/4 full, I fill it with water, swish and drain. Fill it again and boil them. I boil for about an hour. Some people only do it for 20 minutes, and others skip it-it's up to you. I then put them on a baking sheet and bake at 230 degrees for 3-4 hours. I then just shut off my oven and leave them in there over night. I let them sit out a full day before doing anything with them.

If you're doing perches, you'll probably have to skip the boiling since most people don't have pots that huge. I try to do a whole oven of perches at a time. I boil water water sit it in the sink with the wood after scrubbing. I then bake at 230 degrees for about 6 hours and again let it sit in the oven over night and wait a day to do anything with them.

While the smaller pieces are baking, I roll them every half hour so I know they can't be burned. I also rotate the pans each time. When I do perches, I turn them every hour if I'm doing smaller perches-about a foot long. When I cook my 2+ foot perches, I can't move them too much, so I just watch them. Sometimes they need to be taken out and the oven rearranged.

I hope this helps Feel free to PM me if you have further questions.