How to Care for Wooden Cutting Boards and Spoons

I have a penchant for wooden cutting boards & wooden spoons. I appreciate the beauty of these items – the color, grain, feel, the way wood fits in my hand. My kitchen and floors are all hickory. Too much wood some would say, but not for me. I like seeing the grain, the knots and splinters the natural beauty real wood exhibits, not just of the cabinets, but of my wooden cutting boards and spoons.

My husband might not quite agree – oh, he likes natural real wood too, but he does not understand why I need another new cutting board or, heaven forbid, more wooden spoons. I have enough, he says. Only 7 cutting boards, and 2 pots full of spoons. Is there ever too many?

A couple of the cutting blocks are things he made in high school for his mother. One has stains and burned ring marks on one side when someone turn an electric burner on. It only created more memories for me. One is olive wood from Italy, one made with end grain wood in a variety of different woods and different colors.

And as far as spoons go, I’ve tried the cheap bamboo versions, but once I used a carved spoon made from solid wood, there was no going back. I bought spoons made of olive wood when I was in Italy, Ree Drummond spoons I found in Walmart, a hand carved spoon at a craft fair.

These are the things I use everyday in my kitchen. Wood is a hard working material, but it needs to be cared for as well.

  • wipe off with a damp cloth, do not immerse in water or let soak; clean after every use
  • wipe dry with a towel
  • clean immediately when covered with something thick or sticky that might congeal or harden, making removal difficult
  • never wash in a dish washer
  • use oil, or in my case, wood butter to keep the wood from drying and cracking (mineral oil is often recommended, but almond oil is fine if no one in the house has a nut allergy, or even grape seed oil).

And to care for them I make wood butter. Sometimes called spoon butter, it is a paste used to keep wood from drying out, that is rubbed on in small amounts.

Print

Wood Butter

A paste made with beeswax and oil to rub onto wooden products.  It prevents wood from water & drying out and cracking.

Ingredients

  • 1 part beeswax
  • 3 parts coconut oil or other oil of your choice

Instructions

  1. Place a pint mason jar in a saucepan and fill with water half way up the jar.

  2. on the stove top, place the pan over low/medium low heat.  Put teh beeswax and oil in the jar, and heat just until melted.

  3. Off heat, stir to make an emulsion, mixing both ingredients together well.

  4. Remove from the saucepan carefully.  Allow to cool, and close the jar tightly with a lid.

  5. Use a very small amount on a rag to wipe wooden surfaces.  Too much will make the wood sticky, so use a thin coat.  Allow to sit and dry before using.