Most of us consider the Labor Day holiday to be the end of summer and we’ll be firing up the grill and having that last big backyard bash for friends and family this weekend. Of course this typically means grilling high calorie meat like brats, burgers, ribs, hot dogs or ribs. For those either trying to stay lean or get leaner, this weekend can be a big challenge.

You don’t have to stress about this and can actually have a great time and still eat lean without sacrificing flavor. It starts with a strategic plan so you can enjoy the food as much as your friends and family and not feel guilty with every bite you take. Here are some foods to consider as healthy and delicious alternatives:

Grill Your Veggies

Summer isn’t over yet and farmers markets are still in full swing. You can still pick up some great vegetables that are perfect for grilling. I think that grilled vegetables also taste so much better grilled than they do when steamed or baked.

Try marinating your vegetables before grilling as this helps them caramelize and caramelizing brings out the best flavor. Marinade your vegetables for an hour before putting them on the grill. If you’re rushed for time you can lightly coat the vegetables with a little olive oil or canola oil.

Here are some of our favorite grilling vegetables:

Asparagus spears – remove the white end and grill the spears whole on high heat for just a few minutes. Watch these closely as they tend to quickly overcook, which leaves them mushy and limp.

Bell Peppers – whether you like ‘em green, red, yellow or orange, grilled bell peppers have a slightly sweet, smoky taste that compliments just about any grilled meat. Grill for about 20 minutes over medium heat.

Corn – the secret to grilling corn is to pre-cook in water for about 10 minutes before putting them on the grill. Grill over medium heat for 5-10 minutes and be sure to turn frequently so that they don’t burn.

Mushrooms – Portobellos tend to be the best choice here. Use the biggest you can find, remove the stem and rinse away dirt and debris. Cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes and then carefully turn them over grilling the second side for another 5 minutes or until tender in the middle.

Seafood for the Grill

Fresh seafood is relatively easy to find this time of the year and with just a bit of creativity and attention, grilled seafood can be equally juicy and delicious.

Shrimp – For grilling, buy big shrimp, at least jumbo size. The secret to grilling shrimp is cooking time. Over grill and they quickly become tough and chewy, with no flavor. Cook your shrimp on skewers of 4 -6 shrimp each. Lightly coat the shrimp with olive oil if not marinated. Place on the grill 3 to 4 inches above a moderately hot fire.  Cook until pink, then turn and grill the other side.  Allow 5 to 7 minutes total cooking time, half on each side.  The shrimp when fully cooked will be pink and the flesh opaque white.

Salmon – Salmon is probably the most common fish used for grilling because of its firm texture and mild taste. Grilling salmon takes little time. The key is not to overcook. Fish grills quickly, and overcooking can ruin a good salmon fillet. Lightly oil the grill rack, and cook the salmon until opaque, turning once during cooking. Salmon cooks quickly, usually in about 8 to 10 minutes, so watch it carefully. Don’t let flames directly touch the fish.

Don’t Forget the Fruit

Apples, pears, and pineapple are firm fruit that is surprisingly easy to grill and mouthwatering as well. You can also grill softer fruits like mango, papaya and peaches you just need to be more cautious as these tend to cook quickly, and when overcooked, become very mushy.

Grilling fruit caramelizes the natural sugars while softening the outer skin and releasing the delicious juices. The flavors of the fruit are intensified by the smokiness of outdoor cooking complimenting the sweetness of fresh fruit.

Apples –cut the apple lengthwise to grill both halves or crosswise for apple rings. Soak the apple pieces in a water and lemon juice mixture for a few minutes before grilling. Lightly coat the grill (or the apple) with olive oil to reduce sticking. Grill over medium heat for six to eight minutes on each side. Remove from grill and top with complimentary spices like cinnamon, brown sugar, nutmeg and cloves.

Pineapple – trim and peel the pineapple and then cut into quarters from top to bottom. Remove the core from each quarter. Cut each quarter slice into four equal size pieces (roughly 3” x 1”). In a bowl, mix some honey, lemon juice, and a little coarse black pepper. Lightly brush this glaze evenly over all sides of the pineapple chunks. Grill your pineapple over medium heat for about 4 minutes on each side (turning so that grill marks are on all sides) or until the pineapple becomes noticeably fragrant and the surface begins to dry out.

Pears – this is the easiest of the fruits to grill. Choose some pears that are soft but firm, you don’t want pears that are too ripe. Quarter and core your pears (we like to leave the skin on) into four wedges. Grill over medium heat until caramelized and smoky (or about 4 minutes), turn over and grill another 3 minutes. Serve with a small mound of low fat vanilla ice cream.

Mangos – these take just a little more work. Make a marinade of ½ cup of balsamic vinegar, 2 tbsp olive oil, a pinch of chipotle chile powder. Boil your vinegar for 5 minutes, remove from heat, stir in other ingredients and let cool. Cut your mango into 1” thick slices and then place in cooled marinate for at least 2 hours. Remove from marinate and grill over medium heat, turning once until brown and soft (be careful not to overcook). For more on cutting a mango.

Well summer is beginning to wind down and fall is right around the corner. Are you someone who looks forward to September? When football finally kicks off — there is nothing like watching the boys of fall under the lights on a Friday night at the local high school, tailgating at your favorite college on Saturdays or enjoying the sights, sounds and raw excitement at one of the NFL stadiums.

We think that football and hot wings make a pretty unbeatable combination. While we also like our wings baked (but never fried), we especially love our wings hot off the grill which makes them perfect for tailgating or for watching your team with friends and family.

This weekend’s Labor Day festivities also coincides with the 9^th Annual National Buffalo Wing Festival in Buffalo, New York! Last year over 78,000 attended and consumed more than 500,000 wings and they have already ordered 45 tons of wings for this year’s event.

Whether you call them Buffalo wings, chicken wings, hot wings or just wings this tasty treat has developed quite a cult following. You know that it has reached the level of a definitive American food when in addition to a national festival it becomes the signature dish to several restaurant chains – most notably Hooters and Buffalo Wild Wings. In 2009, Esquire Magazine even released their own list of the best national restaurants serving wings.

If you would rather search for the best wings in your area and prefer local bar and grills that may be a bit more off the beaten you might like these reviews from BestHotWings.com.

Me, I am partial to homemade wings as there are so many ways to prepare them and so many flavor options – sweet, spicy and hot, hotter and hottest. Of course preparing them for friends and family makes it even better!

We recently had a get together at our house for our SpicesInc.com staff for a wing taste testing night/ welcome celebration for some of our new team members. Penny seasoned our wings for a couple of hours and I got to threw them on the grill.

Now while I like ‘em hot – especially the Habanero Chile Seasoning, Hot Cajun Wings and Thai Wings our big winners, as selected by our guests,   were the Honey Chipotle and the Kickin’ Chicken. Both of these last two had just a hint of heat and more sweetness than some of our others.

How do you like your wings?

Do you prefer to cook them yourself of go out to a restaurant?

I’ve been working out for a long time and I have a hyper competitive personality (Penny stop laughing) and since I no longer compete in team sports I have turned this competitive energy into competing against myself. At some points during the year I change my workout cycle and concentrate on increasing muscle mass. My current cycle is about seeing how lean can I get.  I’m an old guy now so I am never going to have a young guys 6 pack abs – but I want to see if maybe I can get them to a 4-1/2 pack.

I don’t have a problem with motivation or discipline and I am very in tune with fueling my body with food. While I do obsess over food it is because in order to be successful at getting lean (or increasing muscle) you have to focus on your eating program – what, when and how much.

Building lean muscle mass also helps rev up your metabolism as it makes your body more efficient at burning calories throughout the day. But you also must have a strategic approach to cardio and interval treadmill training allows me to burn maximum calories, jump start my metabolism for the day and most importantly get out of the gym quicker. No boring 45 – 60 minutes cardio sessions for me!

My Current Interval Treadmill Program

For this current cardio cycle I modified my Interval Treadmill work and upped my total weekly cardio time a bit. I am still lifting 3-4 times per week (depending on where I am in my lifting cycle) and have been consistently hitting the treadmill 5 days a week.

On lifting days I complete my workouts with a 20 minute treadmill interval session and on non-lifting days I do a 28 minute session. I started this cycle at 14 and 20 minutes respectively and worked my way up to the level that I feel comfortable at.

My previous treadmill interval cycle was based on a program from the guys at Precision Nutrition. For this cardio cycle I switched to the base program from Darrin Steen and then made my own modifications to fit me.

Most of the cardio interval programs recommend a 5-10 minute warm-up, 5-9 intervals and then a 5 minute cool down. Darrin’s program recommended keeping your working intervals at a 45:1 ratio – 45 seconds of jogging and sprinting and then 1 minutes of rest (rest means slowing down to a moderate or quick walking pace). I found it too difficult to keep track of the 45 seconds of jogging and sprinting so I went with running for one minute during the work phase of this interval so a 1:1 ratio works best for me. You’ll have to find what works best for you.

The secret to this cycle was to continue to up the intensity for each interval (both the work phase and the rest phase). Up the intensity means kicking up the speed and/ or increasing the incline.

Here are samples of my two interval treadmill programs (20 minutes for lifting days and 28 minutes for cardio only days). I never do the same workout twice and look to increase my working interval speed each workout until I hit a max and then cycle over again.

This has been an amazing program for me and if you are up for it I would highly recommend that you start with 4-5 interval cycles with a 1:2 ratio until you comfortable (be sure to keep the warm up and cool down periods) and when comfortable bump it up in 1 cycle increments.

Remember I am not a doctor this is just a highly effective program that has worked for me.

Greg wanted wings on Saturday.  He wanted to have at least 4-5 different kinds of wings, so we could try the spices that we use on wings.  He wanted to invite people over so they could try the spices that we use on wings.

Sure. No problem. 

So pardon the photography as I tried to prepare, plate, hostess, & shoot food while my family was waiting to dig in.  I also had mac & cheese (my 20 yr old daughter’s fav) and cole slaw with homemade mayonnaise! (I will save that for another blog post.)

Wings are a splurge for us as they can be high in calories and fat.  They are just so little – easy to eat a whole bunch of them!  Each wing, before preparation can be about 100 calories and about 6 grams of fat.  Now, lucky for me we don’t like ours fried – we put them on the grill so no extra calories there.  Spices are a great way to add loads of flavor and no extra calories.  I stay away from tossing the wings in sauce and save that for a little dipping on the side.

The results of the test were great – everybody liked the wings.  The favorite for the night was the Honey Chipotle.

Menu:

Buffalo Rub Wings

Carefully hand mixed from California paprika, cumin, chili powder, black pepper, cayenne pepper and cloves.

Cooked on the grill instead of frying

Chipotle Honey Wings

Hand blended from granulated honey, sea salt, chipotle powder, granulated onion, Spanish paprika and Italian seasoning.

The crowd favorite! Sweet with a little 'kick'

Salt Free Thai Spice

Carefully mixed from lemon peel, garlic, onion, tomato powder, coriander, citric acid, paprika, hot chili peppers, basil, black pepper, cilantro and white pepper.

Salt Free - a healthy choice

Caribbean Spice

Hand blended from granulated garlic, minced onion, ground allspice, Spanish paprika, brown sugar, thyme, ground cinnamon, black pepper, nutmeg, lemon peel and cayenne pepper.

Brown sugar, cinnamon & cayenne - what a combination!

Dinner was a success and the testers were pleased.  Everyone helped with the dishes, which was a plus! 

What is your favorite spice for wings?  What do you do to keep them healthy?

Salsa Verde was by far, Greg’s favorite salsa of the week!  I roasted the tomatillos and peppers on the grill before adding them to the salsa.  This was the one salsa that I put in the food processor to create a puree, instead of a mixture of diced veggies.  Even with taking the time to grill the vegetables, this was a super easy salsa to make.  Click here to link to the salsa verde recipe.

I decided to make a type of pulled chicken sandwich and use the salsa verde as a topping instead or mayo, mustard or some other sauce.

Carnitas is a type of braised pork that is simmered or slow cooked and then pulled apart or shredded and then broiled or roasted to produce a caramelized, crispy texture.  The meat is used commonly in Mexican dishes, such as, enchiladas, tacos, tamales, etc.  Typically, a very marbled pork is used in Carnitas and the meat is simmered in the fatty renderings.

I use my slow cooker often and have made many pulled chicken dishes, but I really like the idea of broiling or roasting the meat after it has simmered to give a different texture.

Healthy alternative to pulled pork carnitas

So here is my healthier version of a carnitas sandwich, using chicken and my slow cooker.

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon salt – ok to omit if you prefer
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ancho powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 bay leaves
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 4 TBS reduced fat Monterrey Jack cheese
• 4 whole wheat sandwich buns

Directions:

1. Mix together salt, garlic, cumin, ancho powder, Mexican oregano, coriander, and cinnamon in a bowl.
2. Coat chicken with the spice mixture.
3. Place the bay leaf in the bottom of a slow cooker and place the chicken on top.
4. Pour the chicken broth around the sides of the meat, being careful not to rinse off the spice mixture.
5. Cover and cook on Low until the chicken shreds easily with a fork, about 6 hours.
6. When the chicken is tender, remove from slow cooker, and shred with two forks.
7. Coat a baking sheet or piece of aluminum foil with pan spray
8. Spread shredded chicken on baking sheet or aluminum foil
9. Place under oven broiler or on a hot grill turning meat once until it starts to crisp
10. Serve on whole wheat buns with 1 TBS reduced fat Monterrey Jack cheese and salsa verde

Serves 4

How do you change recipes to create healthier versions of your favorite meals?

Salsa Verde

Last week Greg asked me to make a salsa every day so we could add the salsa recipes to our SpicesInc website.  No problem.    I love salsa and veggies are so plentiful right now, I was thrilled to load up on so many good, fresh ingredients and have fun creating different salsas.  I will link to the salsa recipes and share the accompanying meal recipes here.

Wonderful fresh veggies for salsas

The first night I made a Fresh Heirloom Tomato Salsa.

I used flat iron steak with Espresso Rub and made grilled fajitas.  Whole wheat flour tortillas and some grilled onions and peppers made a really healthy dinner and the salsa was the perfect compliment.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb flat iron steak – you can use flank or skirt – but if you can find flat iron – try it – it is a very lean cut of meat and very tender when grilled or cooked.
• about 1/4 cup Espresso Rub
• 1 medium bell pepper, sliced
• 1 small sweet onion, sliced
• 4 Whole wheat flour tortillas – I like Chi Chis
• Fresh Heirloom Tomato Salsa – click here for recipe

Directions:

1. Generously coat the steak with the spice rub and let sit in the refrigerator about 20 minutes before grilling.
2. Saute peppers and onions until tender
3. Place meat on grill and cook thoroughly – about 7-8 minutes per side
4. Remove meat from grill and let sit for 10 minutes
5. Warm tortillas on the grill or in the microwave
6. Slice meat
7. Assemble fajitas with meat, onions, peppers, salsa

We took a little blogging break in July.  I got to go to Texas and visit family and Greg stayed behind working and growing the business.  We both spent some time looking at the blog and our posts so far and reevaluated what our message is supposed to be.  It seemed to us that our posts had become rather random – is anyone really interested in what I had for lunch yesterday??

Our original message was about healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle.  Balance to us is about finding a way to do all the things you have to do and all the things you love to do and feeling good about your choices at the end of the day.

Our business, SpicesInc, plays an important part in that philosophy for us.  We all have to work – and we LOVE finding new foods and spices and incorporating them into our healthy lifestyle.  We are so fortunate to have that balance. We also believe that a healthy lifestyle helps create a balance by keeping your body running at it’s peak so that you can do all the things you love to do.

Sometimes you have to take a step backwards to regain your balance and get back on track.

Having said all that, we are back online and blogging about food and spices and healthy eating – all things we are passionate about.  We hope you like the new look and come to enjoy the recipes and articles that we are putting together and that you will offer feedback with ideas for how you maintain balance in your busy world.

Have a great day! 

This is a great country that we live in and we feel tremendous pride in running our growing small business SpicesInc.com. But we also realize that there are those in our country that are not as fortunate — maybe they have suffered greatly in the latest economic downturn or maybe they have just fallen through the cracks.

Did you know that 1 in 6 Americans goes hungry every day?

Hunger has a tremendous impact on those that are the most vulnerable — especially children and seniors. What would you do if this were happening to your kids or to your own grandma?

That is why starting on July 10, 2010 SpicesInc.com will begin donating 1% of all our product sales to Feeding America.

Formerly known as Second Harvest, Feeding America is the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity.  Their mission is to feed America’s hungry through a nationwide network of member food banks and engage our country in the fight to end hunger.

While we know it is important to help those anywhere around the globe the need is so great right here in the US that we wanted to choose a charity that took care of our neighbors, our towns and our states. Feeding America only works domestically.

Each year, the Feeding America network provides food to more than 37 million low-income people facing daily hunger here in the United States, this includes more than 14 million children and nearly 3 million seniors.

The Feeding America network consists of more than 200 food banks that serve all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. They secure and distribute more than 2.5 billion pounds of food and grocery products annually. Those member food banks support approximately 61,000 local charitable agencies and 70,000 programs, which provide food directly to individuals and families in need.

For every $1 that Feeding America receives they provide $15 worth of groceries to feed hungry families.

We decided on 1% of product sales instead of just 1% of profits as those numbers get so watered down.

In addition, if any of our customers want to give more we have added the option of donating in $1 and $5 increments and that can be added to their shopping carts prior to checking out.

We feel that we have a responsibility to ourselves, our kids and our communities to do this and it is just the right thing to do.

Did I mention how much I love Summer? 

I love everything about Summer, the heat, the sun, the water etc…  But, I especially love the fresh fruits and veggies that you get only during the Summer months.  I had the most amazing plum yesterday ….  anyway, I do digress.  Summer is full of wonderful food and tastes.

Even though the days are longer, I still like ‘quick and easy’.  Last night I put chicken on the grill while I prepared the rest of dinner and it all came together, almost effortlessly.  Great tasting healthy dinner that was on the table quickly, leaving the rest of the evening to enjoy the hot Summer night.

Turmeric gives grilled chicken an Indian spicy taste and adds a beautiful yellow color too

The chicken and yogurt sauce included a favorite spice blend called Zataar, a blend of dry roasted sesame seeds, coriander, sumac, thyme, cumin and black pepper.  I added a bit of Turmeric to add color and an Indian flavor.  I could have used a Curry or Garam Masala – it’s ok to be creative with spices.

The creamy cucumber dressing is a refreshing ingredient that stays healthy by using plain, nonfat yogurt instead of a mayonnaise base.  The cucumber, red onion and tomato came from the local Farmer’s Market – another perk of Summer.

Local veggies are always the best!

The whole dish was healthy and super easy to make!!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• Zaatar spice or your favorite Indian spices
• Turmeric
• 1 cup seeded, peeled and diced cucumber
• 3/4 cup nonfat, plain yogurt
• 1 TBS chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• Fresh ground pepper
• 4 whole wheat wraps – you can use pitas or flatbread as well.
• 1 cup shredded romaine lettuce
• 1 large tomato
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion

Preparation:

1. Generously coat the chicken breasts with the spices, saving some of the Zaatar for the dressing.
2. Preheat grill to medium high heat and cook chicken until no longer pink in the middle (4-8 minutes per side)
3. Let chicken rest for 5 minutes before slicing.
4. Prepare the dressing by combining cucumber, yogurt, cilantro, lemon juice and and 1/2 tsp Zaatar
5. Thinly slice chicken and assemble wraps with chicken, lettuce, tomato, onion and yogurt dressing.

Make your dressings healthier by using yogurt instead of mayo!

Do you have a favorite Summer recipe?

Are you looking to perfect the delicate art of BBQ Ribs? To become a backyard BBQ Pitmaster you will first have to master the holy trinity — heat, time and smoke. To better understand heat and time see The 12 Secrets of Cooking Smoked BBQ Ribs , but to unlock the mystery of the smoke stay here.

Smoke appears to be a simple concept on the surface as it dates back to earliest days of man as a way to add flavor to anything that can be cooked. Historically, smoke was used to preserve meat for long periods of time. Today we use it to enhance the flavor of meats. Obviously you need wood for fire – but will any wood do?

Just like spices different woods produce different flavors. Understanding what to look for will bring you closer to BBQ bliss. But before we journey down the path of choosing the perfect wood you first have to understand how the wood is used.

How to Use Your Wood
If you are using a gas grill you will need to put the presoaked wood of your choice either in a smoker box (these can be picked up at Home Depot or Lowe’s) or wrap them in a pouch of heavy duty aluminum foil with a lot of holes or slits in the top of it. Otherwise the bottom of your grill will fill up with ash and clog your burners. Now while you don’t want to clog the burners you do want to get the wood close to the heat. The heat smolders the wood but only when exposed to pretty high heat.

If you are using a charcoal grill or smoker then you can either put the wood directly on the coals (once they’ve gotten white hot) or place them in a smoker box.

You should also know that wood size does matter.

If you are using a Smoker choose full lengths of wood which fit in the fire box. For best results use 2 to 3 sticks of wood (these will be 6″ to 15″ in length depending on the size of the pit). This best maintains the desired heat and produces a superb bed of coals. The wood should be allowed to be reduced to non-flaming coals. This provides a continuous and harmonious source of smoke.

For larger sized grills use 6″ to 15″ pieces of wood (to fit the size of your grill). Let the wood to be reduced to a bed of coals. As long as the bed is mostly coals, then some wood that is ‘flaming’ is fine.

For grills and smaller smokers you can get the same results as you would from a larger smoker by creating smaller coals from wood sticks of 5″ to 7″ or from larger 3” x 3” wood chunks. In either case if you are not using a smoker box then place the wood right on top of the white hot charcoal.

Helpful hint #1: To get the greatest amount of smoke while also getting your wood to last longer, soak the pieces, sticks or chunks of wood for approximately 12 to 24 hours prior to use. So just after you prepare your ribs you should then soak your wood.

Helpful hint #2: Just as you are sure to have enough charcoal or propane on hand be sure to have enough soaked wood ready to go.

Helpful Hint #3: If this is the first time that you are using wood to smoke go with the “less is more” school of thought. It is better to have your ribs slightly under smoked than over smoked (which makes your meat bitter). The first time use only about 2 oz. of wood.

If you are looking to grill your ribs you can find more here.

Types of Wood
It is not uncommon for the backyard pitmaster to use the type of wood that is easiest to find. Resist this temptation as it will be more than worth it.

Some wood, of course make better smoke while providing richer flavor than others.

Here is a breakdown on some of the more common and popular types of wood used by experienced BBQ cooks:

Hickory
The most popular wood used it adds a smoky, pungent, bacon-like flavor to meats. Be careful to use in small amounts. Good for most smoking needs but is considered exceptional for pork and ribs.

Mesquite
Rapidly gaining in popularity but is probably better suited for grilling as it tends to burn hot and fast. Not recommended for inexperienced BBQers. Many consider Mesquite to be the strongest flavored wood which explains its popularity with casual restaurants that cook meat in short amount of time. Has an earthy robust flavor and works well with most meats (especially beef) and most vegetables.

Oak
Another highly popular wood it is considered the most versatile of the hard woods. Possessing a heavy, smoky flavor while a bit on the strong side it is not considered overpowering. Good with beef, fish, lamb, pork and heavy game.

Alder
Native to the pacific Northwest, it has a long tradition as the best wood to use for smoking Salmon. With a light flavor it also has sweet undertones that work well with chicken and fish and poultry.

Apple
One of the most popular of the fruit woods it gives off a dense, fruity smoke flavor with just a hint of sweetness. Good with beef, chicken and pork (especially ham). A word of caution – if you use this with chicken it will turn the chicken skin a dark brown in color (but it is still delicious).

Pecan
Very similar to the more popular Hickory it gives a delicate, woodsy flavor with sweet undertones. It is considered a cooler burning wood and works well with most meats.

Maple
With many of the same characteristics of the fruit woods, Maple slightly smoky, sweet flavor that works best with chicken, pork (especially ham), cheese and vegetables.

Cherry
Another of the highly popular woods it gives off a mildly sweet, fruity smoke flavor that works with practically anything smoked.

Other good woods include: Almond, Apricot, Ash, Avocado, Bay, Beech, Black Walnut, Birch, Butternut, Chestnut, Cottonwood, Crabapple, Fig, Grapefruit, Grape Vines, Guava, Lemon, Lilac, Mulberry, Nectarine, Olive, Orange, Peach, Pear, Pecan, Plum, Walnut and Willow.

You want to avoid these woods: cedar, cypress, elm, eucalyptus, fir, pine, poison oak, oleander, redwood, sassafras, spruce, sycamore or treated wood.