Caring for wooden spoons and other tools

[Dakki]

I got a nice new hardwood spoon at a handcrafts stall today. No idea what kind of wood it is, I didn't think to ask. I brought it home, washed it, let it dry completely and gave it a good coat of mineral oil. I figure it should absorb the oil by tomorrow and I'll be more or less good to go. When it starts looking or feeling dry, I'll give it another coat of mineral oil. That's about all I know to do to wood.

Anyway, it got me thinking that for all the back and forth about the right way to clean enameled pots, the right way to season cast iron and so on, I haven't seen anything here on caring for wooden kitchen tools.

So, how do you do it?

(Sorry if this is covered in another topic, a search didn't bring up any pertinent results).

[Fat Guy]

I do it in the dishwasher. I have plenty of wooden spoons and other utensils that are 10+ years old and have been through the dishwasher many times. I never buy expensive ones so I'm perfectly willing to replace them once a decade or so in order to avoid all the rigmarole of hand-washing and oiling.

[slo_ted]

I, too, go with the dish washer. We have a number of wooden utensils which are at least ten years old and I can't remember ever replacing any.

[Fat Guy]

I have replaced the occasional wooden spoon. I remember at least twice I was using one and it just snapped in half. I'm willing to assume that repeated dishwasher cycles resulted in structural weakness. But maybe that had nothing to do with it. I don't know. Either way, it's just not worth my time to wash them by hand. And my time is worth very little.

[Dakki]

The dishwasher in my house is named "Dakki."

[HungryC]

If you bothered to buy a handcrafted hardwood spoon, please don't run it through the dishwasher. It just needs a quick hand-washing and occasional oiling when it feels dry...don't leave it soaking in water. I have several handmade utensils, specially designed/angled for lefties, crafted out of interesting woods (osage orange, sassafras, cherry, etc, from The Spoon Mill). They're art objects, really, and they deserve a little extra care. The prolonged water contact & high heat of the dishwasher will eventually cause the wood to crack (esp thinner edges of ladles & spatulas). (Note: I'm not a handwashing freak--I toss the le Creuset in the dishwasher all the time.)

[weinoo]

If you bothered to buy a handcrafted hardwood spoon, please don't run it through the dishwasher. It just needs a quick hand-washing and occasional oiling when it feels dry...don't leave it soaking in water.

Absolutely agree. The 2 seconds it takes to hand-wash my wooden utensils are no big deal... they get oiled whenever they appear to need it, or each time I oil my main cutting board.

Some of my wooden utensils are hand-me-downs, from when they actually made good quality stuff - why would I want to destroy them with the harsh chemicals in a dishwasher?

[Fat Guy]

Any discussion of this nature, and we've had many, is going to cover the same ground weighing time spent versus benefit. On the one hand, if you have a spoon worth $200 and it takes 2 seconds to clean by hand, and there's demonstrable proof that washing in the dishwasher will reduce its longevity by a lot, it's probably worth most people's time to wash it by hand. On the other hand, if you have a spoon worth $2 and it takes 20 seconds to clean, and it's likely to last a decade no matter how you wash it, then it's hard to justify washing it by hand unless you actually take pleasure in washing it by hand. My situation is much closer to the latter. When I've made a pot of sauce or a bowl of sticky batter, my wooden spoon absolutely is not cleanable in 2 seconds -- unless I spend that 2 seconds putting it in the dishwasher. And when there's a sink full of dishes and I've got to put our son to bed or deal with something more important than a $2 spoon, I just put everything in the dishwasher and press go. As an added bonus, the dishwasher gets things cleaner than I get them by hand and sterilizes to boot.

[HungryC]

For me, it's not about economic calculation: it's about respect for the craftsman and the tree. I don't put my knives in the dishwasher, and they're completely inanimate, mass produced objects easily replaced with identical copies. Why wouldn't I accord the same level of attention to a unique spoon? When I handwash the spoon, I acknowledge the effort of the maker and of the once-living tree, now repurposed into an entirely individual but useful object. (I build wooden boats & furniture, so maybe I'm just funny about wood. I'd hate to think of someone pouring a quick & easy coat of polyurethane atop a table or bench I spend hours hand-rubbing!) If life choices were entirely about rational economic decisionmaking, I'd never plant a backyard garden, or make lemoncello, or slow-smoke a pork butt.

[Fat Guy]

Once you unpack them, those are entirely rational economic calculations: you derive pleasure and satisfaction from doing those things, therefore they have enough value to justify the time spent. I derive no pleasure from hand washing a spoon, and the cheap wooden spoons I have are not art objects, therefore for me the rational calculation is to put them in the dishwasher.

[heidih]

I am a wooden spoon person by blood. That is just what you used to cook with. I have heard oiling them mentioned, but it was never part of the tradition so I have not tried it. We have always used the cheap wooden spoons. When I had a dishwasher they usually went in there, but am currently without one. I have never had one break, but have had them get a little split on the bottom middle of the spoon section. I did notice that it happened when I was cooking less and the spoon was not in daily use. I also thought they got a little cleaner with the dishwasher- no lingering onion or garlic for instance. However, we have always had two separate spoons - one for cooking spoon and one for baking, so any lingering onion would never get into the cookies.

In terms of other tools, I avoid putting the peeler in the dishwasher for instance because it seems that water can sit in the crevices and promote rusting. If I was using a relatively cheap Forschner knife for messy greasy boning or the like and felt the wood had gotten really lubed up, I used the dishwasher, but it did tend to dry out the wood.

[Aloha Steve]

I have two wooden spoons. The long handled one I bought two years ago to replace the one I had for umteen years. Its most frequent function is to stir the Crystal Light fruit punch in the pitcher. I usually hold it under running water to clean for about 3 seconds and then into the drying rack. When I use it to cook, I like the idea that it is imparting some of the fruit punch flavor to what it is I'm coking, especially tomato sauce

The other is a Joyce Chen brand, smaller spoon, that has a clear coat of some kind on it, therefore it does not get seasoned from anything I use it to cook with. Risotto, mixing batters etc, probably would not benefit from fruit punch flavor.

This one I've had for, oh maybe 18 months, cost $8. at WS and shows almost no wear.

WE use our dishwasher as a storage cabinet. When we remodeled I was going to show my wife that her family's tradition of hand washing was old school and that using dishwasher was the way to go. Unfortunately, if we don't want big ugly bugs, we have to rinse thoroughly before putting in dishwasher, because, we do not make a full load for three days

And anyway, the home is the women's domain and all that. I should have remembered that, I know TMI.........

[Porthos]

I do it in the dishwasher. I have plenty of wooden spoons and other utensils that are 10+ years old and have been through the dishwasher many times. I never buy expensive ones so I'm perfectly willing to replace them once a decade or so in order to avoid all the rigmarole of hand-washing and oiling.

Ditto. I don't own wooden art pieces for the kitchen, I only own tools. I have a very utilitarian view of things I buy for the kitchen. I do have wooden art pieces in my living room that my DW and I have collected.

Several years ago I bought a ton of heavy-handled wooden spoons that Wal-Mart sold for around a buck each. I thought they were such a bargain I bought some more to give to friends and family. Mine show no signs of dying and I put them, and the rest of my spoons, through the dishwasher all of the time.

[donk79]

There are spoons and then there are spoons. Dakki is talking about the latter. The question is if you need a spoon that looks like it belongs at that table.