Pine branches join orange-tree branches as traditional fuel for a paella fire. In Valencian cooking tradition, these woods—and often pine cones—help create the open-fire heat and aromatic smoke associated with outdoor paella.
The fuel matters because paella is cooked in a wide, shallow pan, where heat must spread across a broad base rather than remain concentrated in one small spot. Cooks traditionally build the fire beneath the pan and adjust the burning wood as the rice absorbs liquid. The smoke from local orange wood and pine contributes a distinctive sensory element, although modern home cooks commonly use gas burners or other controlled heat sources.
Pine is not an ingredient in Valencian paella, and its role is sometimes confused with rosemary. Rosemary may season some versions of the dish, but it is not the primary firewood named in this tradition. Likewise, olive, oak, chestnut, and other woods may be used in different cooking contexts, but they are not the canonical answer to this question.
The open fire also supports the formation of socarrat, the prized browned layer of rice that develops at the bottom of the pan when the final heat is carefully controlled.