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Jun 19, 2023

How to Care for Wooden Spoons

By Wilder Davies All products featured on Epicurious are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission. When we

By Wilder Davies

All products featured on Epicurious are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

When we published this story about kitchen tools you don’t actually need in 2021, a brief but beautiful thing happened. People all across the world momentarily set aside their differences and came together in a touching gesture of unity to tell us, the staff of Epicurious, and tell me specifically, to f*#& off. While I was explicit that these were the subjective personal opinions from our staff that did not represent a consensus, and that the story was mostly just a bit of good-spirited negging, we still managed to incite the rage of thousands of people online.

Of all the readers who wrote in, none were as vocal and emphatic as wooden spoon lovers. Something about the wholesale dismissal of wooden cooking utensils—that they are too “impractical” and “difficult to clean”—sent a lot of people over the edge and right into my inbox. Apparently, the suggestion that a person should replace wooden cooking utensils with something like silicone or, god forbid, plastic was equal in offense to spitting on their grandmother. The irony was that I myself use and love wooden spoons. I like how they look; I like to avoid synthetic materials in the kitchen as much as possible; and I like the idea that I’m cooking with a tool that has been more or less the same for hundreds and hundreds of years.

As a wooden spoon lover I am acutely aware of their shortcomings—that they can’t go into the dishwasher; they crack and warp without proper care; and they’re prone to absorbing colors and odors. Wooden utensils get gross. That’s why they require regular moisturizing with a mineral oil or wood balm. Like a wooden cutting board or salad bowl, wooden cooking utensils need TLC to stay in good shape. But unlike cutting boards and salad bowls, wooden cooking utensils are constantly exposed to fluctuating heat and moisture, which accelerates their degradation. That’s why I have a little tin of wood balm on hand at all times and recommend you do the same.

Simply wait until your utensils are completely dry so that the oil can penetrate more effectively into the wood surface. Then wipe a layer of balm over their entire surface, slightly greasier than you’d be comfortable to cook with. Let them sit overnight, and then buff away the excess (if there is any) in the morning or when you’re ready to cook with them again.

This depends on how often you cook with them. If you only use wooden spoons occasionally, say, for scrambling weekend eggs in your nonstick pan, you probably only need to do it once a month or so. If you find yourself plunging them in gurgling sauces, scraping up crusty fond and washing them with soap every single day, giving them a nice rub down every week would make sense. The honest, if imprecise, answer is that you should moisturize them whenever they seem dry. Think of wooden spoons like chapped lips. There’s no right amount of time between chapstick applications; you use it when you need it.

You can use any sort of food-safe mineral oil or cutting board conditioner, but I prefer using a stiffer balm, usually fortified with beeswax, for my wooden spoons and spatulas, because it’s easier to apply with my hands. Lately I’ve been using Lancaster Cast Iron’s wood wax, which comes in a compact tin that I can keep in my utensil drawer.

So, to all those wooden spoon enthusiasts out here, know this: We hear you, wooden spoons are great. We love them! We love them so much that we rub them down with special oils to keep them moisturized and resilient. We treat them with love and respect so they will last a long time, and want to encourage you to do the same.