Your wooden spoons need some loving! They’re dry and cracking (kinda like my hands at the moment), so today we’re making spoon butter!

The noble wooden spoon, where would we be without it? We all have our favourite. It might be stained with turmeric and blackened from cooking mishaps, wonky from that time you left it in water to long and chipped from use, but you love it and it loves you. You’ve taken some gastronomic adventures together, some successful, some not so much.

It’s really important to take care of the wood in your kitchen. I’m talking chopping boards, wooden spoons, counter tops, wooden bowls, knife handles, etc! Wood is a really great material for cooking with as it can have natural antibacterial properties and it isn’t going to leach or chip plastic into your food. However, for it to be safe to use you need to make sure you are conditioning your wood implements regularly. This keeps them from drying out and cracking, or from food stuffs and bacteria getting into the wood. It also helps prevent moisture from getting into and rotting your wood. If you treat your wooden kitchen tools well they can last for decades!

First things first, you are going to want to wash all the items that you want to condition. Wash them up in some warm soapy water, rinse and (most importantly) leave to dry! They must be totally dry before you apply your butter!

You will need:

2 tbsp beeswax

6 tbsp coconut oil 

Small re-purposed tin or tub

Method:

– Put your coconut oil and beeswax into your tin or into a heat safe jug and heat until both are melted. You can do this in the microwave at short 30 sec intervals, by placing into the oven on a low heat, or by using a Bain-Marie on the stove. 

– Use a toothpick or spoon to make sure it is mixed well and you’re done!

– Wait for it to cool and its ready to use.

Application:

Apply to your wooden spoons etc using a clean rag. Alternatively you use clean hands, allowing the heat from your skin to melt the oil into the wood. Make sure the spoon butter has fully penetrated the wood and there is not an oily residue on the surface. I would recommend leaving them to rest overnight before using them. How often you need to butter them is going to depend on how much you cook, so just keep an eye on your wood. iI it starts to feel rough or dry, it’s time to reapply.

The great thing about beeswax and coconut oil is that they are food safe and naturally antibacterial. The reason that we don’t use oils like olive is that they can easily go rancid. When buying beeswax I’ve found the little pellets most easy to work with but, if you have a block, you can simply chop it into small pieces. For the tin you can use something you have lying around the house, for example a yoghurt pot, an old moisturiser tin or a jam jar. I’ve used a tobacco tin from my grandfather; it’s a little old but that doesn’t matter to much.