Buzz
Wooden kitchen tools, like utensils and cutting boards, have a tendency to hold onto stubborn smells. While we adore our wooden tools, their porous nature means they absorb strong odors—then pass those smells onto the food we prepare later (ever had garlic-flavored watermelon?).
The typical method for cleaning your wooden kitchen tools—scrubbing them with soap and water, followed by oil treatment—works for most odors, but soap and water often fall short when dealing with overpowering smells like garlic or onion.
A solution recommended by Mytour’s senior food editor, Claire Lower, is to have a designated wooden spoon exclusively for garlic. While this is a helpful tip for many, it can be tricky if you have a forgetful spouse or children. It’s easy to tell them not to use specific utensils for certain tasks, but there’s always the chance they might forget—or they never listened in the first place.
Another solution to the garlic-scented utensil dilemma is to stop using wooden spoons altogether, though that might be hard for those of us who appreciate them. However, as The Kitchn recently reported, there is a straightforward (and effective) method for removing stubborn smells from wooden utensils: Scrub them with a paste made from baking soda and water. Baking soda neutralizes odors, and when mixed with a bit of water, it gets absorbed into the wood, where it works to eliminate any lingering smells.
Cleaning wooden utensils with a baking soda and water mixture
To test this out, I first chopped garlic on a wooden cutting board, then applied the baking soda paste, and afterward cut up some apple slices on the same board for a taste test. I chopped a large amount of garlic, making sure the board was heavily scented. Then, I made a thick paste of baking soda and water and scrubbed it thoroughly.
My initial attempt didn’t work as well as I’d hoped. While the board smelled mostly of wood, the apple slices I cut on it still picked up a strong garlic flavor. Those slices ended up in the trash, and I returned to the [drawing] board to try again.
The instructions suggested letting the baking soda sit for about a minute. For my first try, I probably only let it sit for around a minute, rather than giving it more time as I should have.
The second time, I applied a thick layer of the paste and let it sit while I took care of other tasks, which took about five minutes. After scrubbing for about a minute, I rinsed off the paste and did a sniff test, which passed. I then cut up another apple, hoping this one wouldn’t end up in the trash too.
And guess what? The apple tasted just like an apple, not a garlic-flavored one, which is definitely not desirable. So, we stand by this method—as long as you’re patient enough to let the paste sit for a few minutes and scrub thoroughly.
