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Near the wooden sailing vessels, the scientists found bacteria that degrade cellulose and hemicellulose, some of the primary components of wood.

All woods used for smoking meat—hickory or oak, cherry or apple, grapevine or mesquite—store their delicious potential in the same basic larder of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin.

Wood consists of three main components: cellulose and hemicellulose, which form long strawlike structures, and lignin, which acts as a glue holding the straw strands together.

The team then used a hot press, an industrial vise for making wood composites, to compress the remaining cellulose and hemicellulose components together.

The researchers used chemicals to break down the wood’s cell walls and remove the polymers, lignin and hemicellulose, that make it rigid and strong.