Who doesn’t love cooking with a wooden spoon? They’re stylish, and natural and add a cozy vibe to your kitchen. However, this kitchen blogger recommends taking caution with your wooden spoons.
Cleaning wooden spoons
Teresa (@withlove_tere), recently shared a video on Instagram about her deep clean process for her wooden spoons.
“You might not want to hear this but your wooden spoons might be making you sick,” she claims. “But here’s how you can fix that.”
She suggest sticking them in boiling water “for 10 to 15 minutes, let them hang out and then when you take them out you dry them completely.”
She then recommends you rub them with olive oil, “not wood oil so that they don’t crack.”
Teresa then shows the water where they boiled the spoons with tons of residue. This was the grease and food particles trapped inside the spoon according to Teresa.
The video has over 62,000 likes and 6.3 million views as of Sunday.
Is this the best way to clean them?
Well, it depends. Experts agree it’s the best way to get grease and bacteria that could penetrate deep into the wood. According to Brad Bernhart of Early Wood Designs, as reported by All Recipes, there are some pros and cons to this method. Bernhart shares the following:
“This method really does clean utensils very well, but it’s not without its issues…Boiling utensils not only takes out any leftover food bits and sauces, but it also pulls out any oil or wax that was previously put on the utensils,” they say. Additionally, putting wooden utensils in boiling hot water might make them crack. Ultimately, Bernhart recommends only doing this deep clean 1-2 times a year, scrubbing the spoons with a Scotch Brite pad to remove any grains and sealing them with a mineral oil.
Cleaning tips are always good to know. This expert house cleaner shares another trick for preserving the glass in your shower.
Viewers share their own methods
It seems that Teresa’s wooden spoon cleaning tips are pretty on par with what professionals say. However, viewers in the comments suggest a mineral oil, like Bernahrt, vs. an olive oil to seal the spoons.
“Olive oil will go rancid and doesn’t stick, use food grade mineral oil instead,” says one comment.
“For better protection, I recommend using food-safe mineral oil, which does not spoil, or a specialized wood conditioner that contains beeswax or carnauba wax…” says another.
“Olive oil goes rancid and can leave odd taste. Food grade mineral oil is better,” agrees another.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Teresa for comment via Instagram message and email.
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