How to keep your wooden objects functioning

Wood is one of the most difficult materials to clean, but it is also the one that least changes the taste of food. Metal utensils, in fact, tend to release molecules that modify the flavor of dishes. Besides being optimal to preserve the original flavor of food, wood can provide excellent results in terms of aesthetic and design, keeping the rustic vibe of antiquities by producing them with the most innovative technique. Wooden objects are very durable and rarely break, but they are more likely to wear off and to be subject to the contamination of bacteria.

Therefore, to ensure your objects a long life, you simply clean them with a bit of mild dish soap and hot water (never put them in the dishwasher), and pat dry them quickly. Wood fibers, in fact, could be damaged by constant humidity: you should not leave your wooden object on the dish drainer tray or submerged in a sink full of soap. The cutting board, maybe the most used among kitchen utensils, is worth paying special attention to since we tend to use it as a base to cut different foods from vegetables to meat and even fish. It is therefore advisable to use a different cutting board for various purposes: for example, one for meat and one for fish.

However, if you do not want to take up too much space in your kitchen cabinet, it can be sufficient to apply some white wine vinegar or lemon juice to disinfect the material as well as inhibit any odors; it is even more effective if you add a bit of salt to the mixture to clean the surface more thoroughly. Anyway, for an ideal care it is sometimes advisable to treat the wood with vegetable oil. It is important, however, to dry the wood before applying the oil.

Therefore, wooden utensils are beautiful to look at and prove convenient during daily use. However, we should remember that as any other organic material unfortunately wood is also subject to germs, bacteria and mold. Hence, if you find some old cutting boards, ladles or spoons that have been forgotten for a long time, it is recommendable not to use them: they might be irrecoverable, and an attempt to disinfect or clean them could not be sufficient. This is not worth risking our health.