How To Use Wooden Spoon – Caring for your wooden spoon is easy! Learn how to care for your wooden kitchen appliances and keep them looking beautiful and lasting a lifetime! These simple steps can show you how to care for and maintain your wooden furniture and turn it into a quality heirloom that can be passed down for generations.
I feel you! Sometimes life seems too difficult without having to do special things for certain devices, right? Like I know I shouldn’t throw steak knives and wooden spoons in the dishwasher…
How To Use Wooden Spoon
Beautiful handmade wooden spoons, rolling pins and cutting boards and more are all the rage right now, but the price tag might scare you. It’s not that these fine pieces of kitchen equipment aren’t worth every penny, but it can be a mental struggle to spend money on something you’re afraid you might ruin with the first curry or blackberry jam you make.
Wooden Spoon Cooking Tips
Thanks to Earlywood Designs for sponsoring this post. And thank you for supporting the brand that supports me and keeps me growing my blog. All opinions and photos are my own.
Wooden kitchen utensils are versatile tools that can do everything from mix muffin batter to stir homemade jam to help prepare an amazing weekend dinner. With a little knowledge and TLC, wooden kitchen appliances can become heirlooms to pass down to your children. No, really!
Step 1: Always wash wooden utensils by hand. Don’t, don’t, don’t put it in the dishwasher. The high temperatures and super long cycles of the dishwasher actually wreak havoc on your wooden utensils. Think of it as a little sponge – it will soak up a lot of water, and all the flavors and all the smells from everything else in the dishwasher. Blah! Throwing wooden kitchen utensils in the dishwasher results in gray and fuzzy utensils with a short lifespan. Not what you’d expect for this gorgeous hand piece, right?
Step 2: Use hot water and mild dish soap. You can use a washcloth or a bristled brush to scrub the equipment.
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Step 3: Set to dry. This will allow as much air flow around it as possible to help it dry and reduce the expanding and contracting effects that occur when the wood is wet.
Now and then you have to give your wooden kitchen utensils a coat of oil. This will create a protective but flexible barrier that will help control wood’s natural desire to fluctuate in moisture content. By preventing this, you help prevent fading, cracking and splitting, and also help the wood to be more resistant to stains and odors.
Don’t just use the old oil that you have. It is important to use the right oil that will protect the wood but also not add any strange flavors or additives to your wood. It needs to be protective, reduce moisture intake, but also breathable.
So which one should you use? Honestly, the choice is up to you, it depends on your lifestyle and how often you use the tools and the condition of the wood. I personally use and recommend Earlwood Designs Wood Oil – it is petroleum based on mineral oil, but I like how easy it is and how well it protects the wood. It’s 100% food safe, and I like that they add lemon peel oil to it, which is antimicrobial (and smells good!).
Bluelans Teak Spatula
If you’re more visual and want to see people do it, check out this video Early Wood Design made on how to turn wood tools.
I recently had the amazing opportunity to interview Brad from Earlwood Designs about wood utensil care and maintenance. I had the opportunity to meet them last May at a conference and knew they would be the perfect people to talk about the right way to care for our invaluable kitchen tools! I asked him some of the above questions that he asked me to!
A: There are many reasons! Tight pores, resistance to dulling or denting, color fastness, resistance to water, weight, feel, appearance, longevity, unique, grain, resistance to splitting and warping and breaking and splitting etc.
A: Most of our equipment is made of dark wood, so it’s not a big deal, but we also make equipment in hard maple, which is light in color. We tested heavy maple gear on pasta sauces, beets, paprika, blueberry juice, and more. It was there. Patience is key with this one!
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A: This is not a problem we have ever heard of our utensils. The wood we use is very hard and has very few pores. The ability to resist odors is one of the characteristics used when choosing the wood to use. If the old wooden tools are made of softer and more porous wood than ours, I would suggest the same method for cleaning wooden tools. That is: Wash your hands in hot soapy water with the side of a sponge (or even a Scotch-Brite pad if you have a serious problem)!
A: Only after you disappear! I always love that wooden boats can be passed down from generation to generation. That’s what makes them so special and in my opinion…the older the better! I don’t know how many people I have talked to who took a moment to tell me about that special wooden spoon that was handed down to them from their grandfather! If you take proper care of them, they should last for generations.
A: It’s a cycle of soaking in water, then drying which eventually cracks the wood. Oil repels water and the more oil there is in the pores of a wooden tool, the less water it wants to absorb. Oil basically reduces the number of times the utensil goes through the wet/dry cycle and also reduces the severity of the cycle. How often do I oil my own tools? Once every 6 months.
A: Hand wash in hot soapy water with the scratchy side of the sponge and you should use it for decades in a safe, sanitary, good, odor-free way! No need to use bleach or harsh chemicals.
Halloween Wooden Spoons
Big thanks to Brad and the team at Earlywood Designs for helping us learn all about the proper way to care for and maintain wooden spoons, cutting boards and more! I am also very excited to announce that they have agreed to host a prize for one lucky winner to receive a fantastic spoon sampler of a medium classic ladle, a long server, a short server, two tasting spoons and oil to take care of everything!
Must be 18+ to win, entry must be from the US. Winner will be announced 5/1/2019. Each option below counts as one entry.
Did you learn something from this post? If so, take a moment to share with a friend who may have the same question about woodworking! You might just save a spoon’s life!
Interested in more resources on how to care for and maintain valuable and heirloom kitchen appliances? Check out our Resource Guide at Cast Iron 101!
Gorgeous Wooden Spoons Almost Too Pretty To Use
We definitely have a problem with wooden utensils getting sticky, my husband uses coconut oil. Just picked up a bottle of walnut oil from Amazon. I don’t like the idea of using petroleum based stuff, so it’s good to know that walnut oil is a less sticky option. I want to have an heirloom in my kitchen. My sister has my dad’s Maviel Pans and I dream of owning a set one day.
Good luck with the walnut oil, Dave! I’m so glad you’re going to try something new!
Love the tips! I have some wooden spoons my mom got me from France that I love but I’ve been struggling with oiling/preserving them! At least I have kept the hobby of leaving them in the sink! The only heirloom I have is a beautiful Dutch enamel iron set from my grandmother. I have bought an heirloom I plan to pass down though, my all American canner and water sealing cracks. 🙂
What a great post! I’d like to know about it, even though I don’t have any hardwood tools (yet). 🙂 I wish I had heirloom kitchen utensils – especially well-conditioned cast iron, wooden tools, and even some nice ironstone pieces! You can’t go wrong with heritage, really.
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My wooden spoon looks amazing!!! This is a great post, I never really thought about taking care of wooden utensils properly! great tips We tried 5 different ways to Care
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