While watching a video on America's Test Kitchen cutting board comparison (or was it reading an article from America's Test Kitchen on cutting boards?), I came across the term spoon butter, a mixture of mineral oil and beeswax that is supposed to be even better for your wooden cutting boards/utensils than mineral oil alone. I was intrigued for although I oil my boards on a semi-regular basis, they were still looking a little dry. I decided to try to make it. After rediscovering that our favorite farmer's market was open (Downtown Campbell) and that the honey stand there sells beeswax if you request it in advance, I had all of the ingredients I needed and decided to make spoon butter last night.
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| Spoon butter |
Spoon butter (based off of a recipe from https://creative-culinary.com/wood-butter-wood-utensils-bowls-recipe/)
Ingredients:
4 oz mineral oil
1 oz beeswax
Procedure:
1) In an large pot (I used my Instant Pot on saute), bring water to a low boil. There should be enough water to cover the bottom third or so of two mason jars.
2) Put the beeswax in one mason jar and the mineral oil in another. Put them both in the boiling water.
3) Once the beeswax is melted (this will take a little while), pour the mineral oil into the mason jar with the beeswax and mix them with a spoon. Let the mixture cool.
4) Use a paper towel to apply the spoon butter to your wooden utensils/cutting boards and let it sit for hours to absorb the oil.
Before (to the left) and after (to the right). Shown immediately after applying spoon butter. The picture doesn't do it justice, but you can see the the before picture is a lot dryer looking than the lovely sheen after applying the spoon butter.
I just made this last night, so am applying it to my wooden utensils for the first time today. I didn't have the exact amounts listed in the original recipe, so I just measured out the amount of mineral oil I had left (about 4 oz) and weighed 1/4 of this (1 oz) of beeswax. Turns out beeswax is very difficult to cut if it is in block form, but a heated knife eventually did the tick. Once you apply the finished product, the difference is immediately apparent. The wood has a nice sheen to it and looks moisturized and non-dried out. Plus, your hands feel lovely and moisturized after applying it too; an added bonus! I am going to let it sit overnight and might remove the excess oil if it hasn't all absorbed in by tomorrow. Although I don't remember from which America's Test Kitchen source it was that originally inspired me, I did find this article on spoon butter if you're curious:
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