Carvão

Charcoal for ordinary uses is obtained by the incomplete combustion of wood. For this, pits are opened in the ground, and some logs or pieces of wood are placed in them, to which fire is set; placing new logs on top of the first ones, the combustion spreads rapidly, and a large amount of smoke then emerges from all points of the pit. When the charcoal burner understands that the operation is completed, everything is covered with branches, brushwood, and earth, and the charcoal is later removed from the pit to be carried in bags to the villages. Some charcoal burners pour some water on the charcoal before covering the pit with earth. In certain parts of the island, it is not customary to open pits in the ground, but in the other operations for the manufacture of charcoal, the process already indicated is followed. The process of chimneys in the center of the pit, used in Portugal, is unknown in Madeira.

Heather is the plant that produces the best charcoal, but it is also made from the wood of grapevines, laurels, and other species.