Coated charcoal

Abstract

Disclosed herein is the use of coatings on charcoal heating materials, such as charcoal briquets, to enhance burn properties. It has been discovered that if one half of a pile of charcoal briquets is dosed with lighter fluid and the other half remains undosed, the entire pile of briquets will light and burn. Thus, the amount of lighter fluid necessary to light a pile of charcoal briquets can be reduced by fifty percent. However, over time (2 to 3 months), the lighter fluid migrates from the dosed briquets to the undosed briquets. Therefore, it has been found that by coating the undosed briquets with a material that prevents the lighter fluid from migrating onto them, solvent migration is reduced and/or eliminated. The coated briquets light a little later than the uncoated briquets resulting in an extension of the cooking phase.

1 . A charcoal heating system for use as a cooking fuel, which ignites easily and quickly, said charcoal heating system comprising:
 a plurality of dosed charcoal heating materials dosed with between about 12% to about 18% lighter fluid; and   a plurality of coated charcoal heating materials substantially free of lighter fluid having a coating that substantially prevents the transfer of lighter fluid from dosed charcoal heating materials to coated charcoal heating materials; and   wherein the ratio of dosed charcoal heating materials to coated charcoal heating materials is between 1:1 and 9:1.   
     
     
         2 . The charcoal heating system recited in  claim 1 , wherein the dosed charcoal heating material and the coated charcoal heating material are in the form of charcoal briquets, lump charcoal or mixtures thereof. 
     
     
         3 . The charcoal heating system recited in  claim 1 , wherein the coating comprises a coating agent, a thickener or mixtures thereof. 
     
     
         4 . The charcoal heating system recited in  claim 3 , wherein the coating agent is selected from the group consisting of corn syrup, glycerin, non-glycerin polyols, starch and mixtures thereof. 
     
     
         5 . The charcoal heating system recited in  claim 1 , wherein the thickener is selected from the group consisting of methocel, sodium alginate, guar gum, xanthan gum, agar, carrageenans, chitosan, pectin, cellulose derivatives, modified food starches, gum tragarcanth, locust bean gum, gellan gum, gum Arabic, and cellulosic gums and mixtures thereof. 
     
     
         6 . The charcoal heating system recited in  claim 3 , wherein the coating comprises from 0% to about 32% by weight of coating agent and from about 0% to about 5% by weight of thickener. 
     
     
         7 . The charcoal heating system recited in  claim 1 , wherein the ratio of dosed charcoal heating material to coated charcoal heating material is between about 25:75 to about 75:25. 
     
     
         8 . The charcoal heating system recited in  claim 1 , wherein the coating is a polymer. 
     
     
         9 . The charcoal heating system recited in  claim 8 , wherein the coating has a Solvent Transport Factor (STF) of between 0 and 0.05. 
     
     
         10 . The charcoal heating system recited in  claim 8 , wherein the polymer has a molecular weight of at least 500,000 g/mole. 
     
     
         11 . The charcoal heating system recited in  claim 8 , wherein the polymer is selected from the group consisting of starches, celluslosics, gums and acrylics. 
     
     
         12 . The charcoal heating system recited in  claim 8 , wherein the polymer is hydrophilic. 
     
     
         13 . The charcoal heating system recited in  claim 12 , wherein the polymer is a starch selected from the group consisting of maize, tapioca, and waxy maize. 
     
     
         14 . The charcoal heating system recited in  claim 13 , wherein the starch is a high molecular weight, cross-linked, waxy maize type starch. 
     
     
         15 . The charcoal heating system recited in  claim 1 , wherein the coating is Methocel. 
     
     
         16 . The charcoal heating system recited in  claim 1 , wherein the cook time is increased as compared to a traditional pile of briquets. 
     
     
         17 . A coated charcoal heating material comprising,
 a charcoal heating material substantially free of lighter fluid; and   a coating on at least a portion of the charcoal heating material that substantially prevents the transfer of lighter fluid onto the portion of the charcoal heating material that contains the coating.   
     
     
         18 . The coated charcoal heating material recited in  claim 17 , wherein the coating is selected from the group consisting of starch, celluslosics, gums and acrylics. 
     
     
         19 . The coated charcoal heating material recited in  claim 18 , wherein the coating is a starch selected from the group consisting of maize, tapioca, and waxy maize. 
     
     
         20 . The coated charcoal heating material recited in  claim 19 , wherein the coating is a high molecular weight, cross-linked, waxy maize type starch. 
     
     
         21 . The coated charcoal heating material recited in  claim 17 , wherein the coating is a hydrophilic polymer having a molecular weight of at least 500,000 g/mole. 
     
     
         22 . The coated charcoal heating material recited in  claim 17 , wherein the coating has a Solvent Transport Factor (STF) of between 0 and 0.05.