I have not, but then I've never bought any with instructions to do so. What kind of wood are your new spoons? I have several that are olive wood, which I like. I have some olive wood bowls also, and I've never cooked bowls either. I use mineral oil on my wooden spoons and carnauba wax on bowls.

Nice to see you back!

I also have olive wood pieces that I use regularly but I never "cooked" them nor were there any directions to do so. I washed mine before use and oiled them with my cutting board oil and that is what I continue to do.

No - I will have to check into that. I never heard of that and I make wooden spoons. We finish with walnut oil and then walnut oil/beeswax paste.

I've never heard of that practice, and It would seem to me the first time you use a wooden spoon to stir a soup or stew it would "cook" and season it as well...

Some of our members, like Agmss15, who are woodworkers probably know better than I, but it sounds to me like they haven't adequately dried the wood. After an artisanal woodworker carves a bowl, he puts it in a brown paper bag to dry because the paper holds enough moisture to keep it from drying too fast and cracking. If they want you to cook the wooden spoon, I wonder if it's because they expect it to dry during shipment and time before sale, and just want to be sure it's fully dry. Weird thing to ask people to do.

Nope!

New wooden kitchen tools may have wax, oil, etc. on them to look good in stores.

Cook them off.

dcarch

dcarch, they don't appear to be waxed. The instructions say that it needs to be done because it's a natural material. This particular spoon was made by Fackelmann, a well-known maker of home furnishings and kitchen tools, so one would assume they should know, but I've just never heard of it.

In any case, I did cook the spoons in water for about 20 minutes, and it turned brown. Now I'm going to sand one of them to get it smooth and then season them properly.

My favorite, a gift from my mother, that i've had for years and thought i would have for many more, recently broke.

I do wash them and often pour over some kettle hot water just imagining all the grimy hands as most are not packaged. Never heard about cooking them.

Beautiful hand crafted ones could be ruined if given a harsh cleaning like a dishwasher. My cheap bamboo ones are fine in the dishwasher.

The three wooden spoons I bought in 1974 have gone through the dishwasher a few thousand times. Does that count?

fawnridge, I put my cheap wooden spoons through the dishwasher too, but I have a couple that Dad and I made while he was still alive and those get carefully washed by hand, oiled and dried.

I've never cooked any of them, though, I've simply sanded them smooth and treated them with oil meant for butcher block counters or wooden cutting boards. I never even heard of them needing to be "cooked"!

Annie

Annie, those spoons you and your dad made certainly deserve to be treasured and given special treatment.

I have a wooden butter knife my father made for me and I am very careful never to wash it with soap. I just run some hot water over it to melt off the excess, wipe it and let it air-dry. The butter has given it a lovely honey-coloured patina over time.