Make and use maize cob charcoal

Four very good reasons why to make your own charcoal from dry maize cobs.

1. They are FREE!! (minimal processing required and are widely available as a farm waste product)

 2. Maize cob charcoal is very easy to make and leaves few charcoal fines. (no need for expensive briquetting)

 3. They are easy to light and burn very hot with little ash and are perfect for cooking a quick meal. 

4. Using maize cob charcoal means ZERO reliance on tree's and forests, LPG gas or unreliable and expensive electricity supplies for your cooking fuel needs. And with a Cookswell Jiko you can bake, boil, roast and toast all of your favorite foods

All you need is a simple mini-kiln a few spare hours and some free maize cobs. 

Which almost all maize farmers in Kenya are very happy to get off their hands. Maize cobs are used in a few areas for silage for zero grazing cows, some people use them to cook with but they are so smokey most people burn them in the fields as waste.

Loading the dry maize cobs in the kiln

Once finished, seal the kiln, let it cool for a few hours and voila! Your lump maize cob charcoal is ready to use!

Blending maize cob and tree branch charcoal at a 1:3 ratio is a great combination for fast lighting and long cooking!

Maize cob charcoal burns HOT and cleanly! 

Some of the the first things the Cookswell R&D lab cooked up when we discovered how simple and cheap it is to make ''amaizing'', maize cob charcoal.....or.....mkalamagunzi choma!!  

The 12,000ksh 4 burner Cookswell BBQ jiko.

a kilo robo choma of some nice mbavu chaps.

enough for a perfect quick cup of chai. 

4 burner BBQ + mini-kiln 15,000ksh. Never pay for charcoal again!

maizecob charcoal blended with branch charcoal. easy to make and easy to use with the same great taste!And with a 4 burner BBQ jiko you only light the ceramic liners that you need!

All of this was cooked on 3 re-charges of charcoal (about 4 handfuls)....and was essentially free charcoal (waste maize cobs) (the 15,000ksh small 3 level charcoal oven. 

Feel free to come visit the Lower Kabete Woodfuel Resource Center in Nairobi
cookswelljikos@gmail.com