Kitchenware care

Caring for your spurtle or salad bowl is a simple case of washing it in warm soapy water and drying thoroughly. An occasional application of oil or wax may be called for, but for the most part timely washing will keep your wooden kitchenware in good condition.

But if it takes on an odour such as garlic or onion, try rubbing it with a slice of lemon, lime or orange, then sprinkle with salt and wipe with a paper cloth.

In more extreme cases where food has gone off in the bowl, such as fruit which has been forgotten, try making a mixture of mineral oil and pumice powder. Rub this into the bowl with a cloth. Many applications may be needed, but this is probably the safest way for consumers to fix a bowl.

I once had a customer come to me with an old bowl, not one of mine I should add, that had had some fruit go off in it. The bottom was a really sticky mess and I had to remove quite a bit of wood to get back to a reasonably good finish. Sandpaper is not much use in cases like this since it will gum up right away. I used a curved cabinet scraper, but even then it was a tediously slow job.