Frontier Brand Eco Start Natural Lighter Fuel Review

When you think charcoal grilling, you think lots of lighter fluid and high flames. The problem with that is some people can go overboard with the lighter fluid, giving your freshly grilled meat a nice, gassy scent.  But with Eco Start Natural Lighter Fuel, you can keep the air a little cleaner and the meat tasting a little fresher.

I was skeptical about this natural lighter fuel at first. I live in Northern California, so everything here is pretty much turning "green". Sometimes green products don't work as the traditional ones, but the store I was at had no regular lighter fluid left. I had no choice but to be environmentally-conscious.

The directions said to use no more than a 1.5 tablespoons per pound of charcoal and to add a nice layer at the bottom of the charcoal brick pyramid. I followed the directions and spread the green, goopy stuff around. I lit it on fire.

Five minutes went by, and there was a little smoke. Eight minutes went by, a little more smoke and no smell. But 12 minutes into lighting, almost every one of my bricks was on serious fire and getting greyer by the second. By the 15th minute, my coals were ready for cooking with no flame-out or lighter fluid smell. It is made of ethanol, cellulose powder, and sodium chloride.

The Eco Start Lighter Natural Lighter fluid will run you about 5 bucks for 32 ounces, but you'll have it forever. The top of my bottle was barely touched! I'll never use regular lighter fluid again.