I was recently given a jar of homemade spoon butter, and it rules. What does one do with spoon butter, you ask? Slather it onto your wooden spoons, let them sit overnight, and then buff with a dry cloth. It brings the sheen back to your spoons, and protects them from drying, cracking, and staining. (And bonus points for leaving your hands soft.)
The recipe is simple to make according to 3191 Miles Apart:
In a large sauce pan of boiling water, I placed a quart mason jar with my beeswax (a quarter of a pound) cut into small chunks. Once the wax was melted, I placed another jar with the 16 ounces of mineral oil in the water to gently heat. Then I poured the mineral oil in with the beeswax and allowed them to continue to heat and emulsify, gently stirring until smooth and even. Take your jar out of the water bath, allow to cool and it's ready to use.
The recipe yields about a quart jar of butter.
Read More: Spoon Butter at 3191 Miles Apart
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Comments (14)
any reason to use this instead of mineral oil that one would use on, say, a cutting board? or vise versa?
I've used a mixture like this on a cutting board and I love it. The only reasons not to use beeswax for sealing any wooden kitchen utensils are vegans and bee/honey allergies.
Any problem with using this on butcher block counter-tops?
Check out www.creative-culinary.com. It has a great post about spoon butter too.
Can I substitute Linseed oil and use this on my butcher block counter top?
Spoon butter is great for all wood surfaces that come in contact with food. I make cutting blocks, salad bowls etc. and a wonderful oil for blocks, spoons etc. is sunflower oil, it is one of the 3 natural oils that will dry, the other 2 being 100% tung oil[ odor is a problem] or walnut oil[ harder to find]..sunflower is on your grocery shelf, brings out the rich color in the wood, will not go rancid and does eventually dry.
I would not use mineral oil as it is a petroleum product and do not want it to be in contact with any of my foods. I'm wondering if a different oil can be used instead.
I just use olive or vegetable oil.....
Or you could just buy a tin of Beekeeper's Gold - same thing, less mess. Also good for cutting boards and wooden knife handles.
Mineral oil, even tho a petroleum product will NOT hurt you! It's used in all sorts of medications for animals & humans. Linseed oil, however, is a NO-NO for any food related applications. Yes, you can buy tins of stuff to use but it will be more expensive and not as good as this recipe.
I have to wholeheartedly disagree with @Brenda Watts on sunflower oil - I've had it go rancid sitting in a warm cabinet, and now I keep it in the fridge at all times.
if you use a food grade mineral oil you wont get that funky mineral oil taste.
Linseed oil would be a bad choice for anything food related.
I tend to use bamboo and have never had it crack. Problem averted!
Maxwell recommends Tree Spirit Bees Oil, which is essentially this mixture.
Where do you buy bees wax to make the butter? I've never found any in stores...