This “recipe” comes from The Art of Doing Stuff and is so easy and nifty that I almost feel like I’m doing something wrong. I love my wooden kitchen tools and cutting boards but I’m really bad at taking care of them. This is an easy solution. You need two things: beeswax, which you can get at any health or craft store; and mineral oil, which you can pick up from pretty much any decent kitchen store that sells wooden cutting boards. And IKEA.
Start by chopping up 2 1/2 ounces beeswax.
Plop that in a double-boiler and melt it good.
Such a happy colour.
Then pour in 1 1/2 cups mineral oil and stir that around for a while, about five minutes. Just for your edification, I had a bottle with only 250mL (1 cup) of mineral oil, so I adjusted the beeswax amount to 1 2/3 ounces. When you first add it in, the temperature differential will cause it to curdle, but it will melt again.
Alternatively, you could melt the beeswax in the mineral oil in the microwave, similarly to how I did it with the lotion.
Then you can pour it into cutesy containers and let it solidify.
It goes solid from the bottom up.
Finished and fragrant!
To use, scoop some out with your fingers (it’s quite soft) and rub it into your cutting boards and wooden utensils.
Leave for a few hours or overnight and then buff with a dry cloth.
Some of my spoons before buttering.
And the same spoons after. TADA! Makes a cheap and easy gift for the kitchen-minded hostess.
