Preferred wood used for wooden cooking utensils

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hmmm... I guess I'm glad to not be the only one with plain old wood of no distinction...

Maybe Jeannie will read this and buy me some gourmet spoons and spatulas for Christmas... ;)
 
I have a mish-mash of wooden utensils. Three of my spoons are of an unknown wood, but it must be a good and durable type - two spoons were my Mom's and I still use them for baking to this day. Mom probably got them shortly after she was married...in 1941. I also have an olivewood spoon. It's nice, but nowhere near as special as using Mom's spoons. I also have three tapered spatulas I use for stir-frying and cooking grains or polenta. My favorite is bamboo; it has a perfect curve to one of the bottom edges that glides along the bottom edge of my Staub cocette as if they were made for each other.

I use cured Olive Wood spatulas which Excel in sauce making. Here it is more common to use cured olive Wood as we are producers and also earthenware cooking vessels ..

I have a large set of Bamboo spatulas as well which were a gift, and they are still in the box ..
So it the SPATULA that excels in sauce making? :huh: I always though it was the freshness of the ingredients, the particular recipe one follows (or doesn't), and the skill of the cook. I bought a huge $6 Joyce Chen bamboo spoon for spaghetti sauce making since it's so long it extends well beyond the top edge of the 12-quart stock pot I have. I don't know how I'm going to break it to "Joyce" that she really hasn't been turning out tasty spaghetti sauce for all these years...:(
 
...Sadly time has taken its toll on a few of my favorites. the problem I have is when I get a few new ones, they will not have the altered shapes that I've come accustom to.
^This^ is why I love using my Mom's old spoons! The edges are worn "just so" and they follow the lines of the bowl I use for mixing. Some of those bowls are Mom's too, so no wonder they go together so well. :heart:
 
At the risk of being labeled a Philistine, I was ease of maintenance as a prime factor in wood utensils. I'm in no mood to hand wash and oil a wood spoon. Bamboo goes into the DW and comes out unchanged. Easy Peasy.

Exactly. With few exceptions, if it doesn't go in the dishwasher, I don't use it in my kitchen.
 
I removed the dishwasher, replaced the sink with sprayer and do the dishes by HAND!

Some of my wooden spoons, I don't know what they are made of, aside from wood.:LOL: All wash nicely in soap and water without soaking up water. They never hit the sink, I wipe them with a soapy cloth and rinse immediately allowing them to air dry. They are seasoned better than my carbon steel pans.

The olivewood are pretty, the reason I bought them, they are also functional.

I don't think it matters what your wooden utensils come from which wood specie, as long as you like using them. Start with the most inexpensive (bamboo) and work your way to the next until you find what you like.
 
I have a few cheap wooden spoons that get a lot of use, along with a wooden spatula (I think that what it is - flat with an angled chisel edge?) that I use as a scraper for getting those tasty bits of fond off the bottom of the pan. I think the whole lot didn't cost $5. We've been using them for 10 years at least, and aside from some slight discoloration, they are exactly like they were when new.

I hand wash them during the normal breaks as I work - it's just what I do with 90% of my cooking and prep stuff. We only run the dishwasher 2 or 3 times a week, and we don't have enough of each kitchen tool to let them sit in the machine for that long. I end up pulling something out and hand washing it anyway.

I use several items of my prep and cooking gear nearly every day, things like our good glass bowl set that we got for a wedding present 25 years ago. I think that each bowl gets used 4 or 5 times a week, sometimes 2 or 3 times in one day. I've long had the habit of having dishwater in one side of the sink all the time while I'm cooking and just wash up as I go.
 
Like Rick, we also hand wash items we use daily as we don't have a full dishwasher but once or twice a week. We have purchased lots of extra forks and spoons though so we don't run out before the dishwasher is full. SC found the extras on Ebay in our tableware pattern. I can't imagine putting my prep knives in the dishwasher, so also hand washing an olive wood spatula isn't a big deal.
 
Like Rick, we also hand wash items we use daily as we don't have a full dishwasher but once or twice a week. We have purchased lots of extra forks and spoons though so we don't run out before the dishwasher is full. SC found the extras on Ebay in our tableware pattern. I can't imagine putting my prep knives in the dishwasher, so also hand washing an olive wood spatula isn't a big deal.
We do the same. And I think the happiness that having pretty, useful things brings to me is worth taking a few extra minutes to take care of them properly.
 
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Like Rick, we also hand wash items we use daily as we don't have a full dishwasher but once or twice a week. We have purchased lots of extra forks and spoons though so we don't run out before the dishwasher is full. SC found the extras on Ebay in our tableware pattern. I can't imagine putting my prep knives in the dishwasher, so also hand washing an olive wood spatula isn't a big deal.

Usually our key to when we run the dishwasher is when we run out of forks or teaspoons. When I have to dip into the salad forks to set the table for dinner, it's time to run it.
 

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