Care for your Antique Wood Kitchen Collection

Culinary antiques are becoming some of the most sought-after antiques collectors are searching for right now. They are always the antiques flying off the shelves at FrenchGardenHouse Antiques, and it’s easy to see why! Nostalgic, most of these items have cooked decades worth of meals and have the patina to show for it. Today I’m sharing How to Care for your Antique Wood Kitchen Collection.

As I wrote awhile ago, these simple country antiques connect us to a time when we all allowed for leisurely food preparation, and dining was an event.  Many collectors fill their homes with French Country wooden kitchen antiques to remind them to sit and enjoy lovingly prepared meals with their family and friends, and treasuring their company.

Not only are these wood pieces useful, they are so decorative, that even if they never help make another meal, they just look gorgeous displayed in any room.  Antique wood pieces from kitchens of the last centuries have all the warmth, patina and stories to add such charm to your own kitchen at home.

If you love French Country culinary antiques for the memories they stir, or for how useful they still are, or simply for how they look, here are some tips on making sure they look their best and last for at least another life time.

How to Care for your Antique Wood Kitchen Collection.

 

First let’s define what some of these pieces are:

Wooden Spoons

Wood Chopping Boards

Wooden Patiserie Rolling Pins

Wooden Mashers

Wood Baguette Trays

Wood Bread Boards and their knives

Wood Dough or Herb Chopping Bowls

Wash in Warm Water

Many times it just takes a wiping down with a moist cloth and drying the wood to get your wooden kitchen antiques clean. {All the pieces you buy from us at FrenchGardenHouse have been thoroughly cleaned and prepared for use.} If you have used your wooden antiques in cooking, you can fill a your sink or a bowl with warm water and dish soap, and gently scrub off any food particles. Then, once they’re clean, dry with a soft dish towel. You want to be sure that the wood is completely dry. Here at home, on dry days, I put them outside in the sun for a little bit to make 100% sure they’re dry before I put them away.

TIP: Don’t ever put your wooden items, antique or new, in your dishwasher. The detergent is too harsh, the temperature too high, your wood will absorb too much water and swell, shrink and/or crack.

Remove Burn Marks

Most of us love the wear on the wooden antiques from France. If, for some reason, you burn a spot on a spoon, say, you can help it look a little better. I once accidentally left an antique cutting board too close to the flame of our stove, and one end burned. I found that sanding it a little bit with a softer grit sandpaper did wonders. {Obviously this won’t work if your board catches fire {!!} in which case you have to be happy to live with the burn marks as part of your piece’s history.}

Remove Smells

Mr. FGH loves to slice his own garlic when cooking {Me? I use those handy frozen cubes!} and one of our smaller boards became quite ‘smelly’ after a time. My grandmama taught me this trick: cut a lemon in half and rub all over the wood. Then sprinkle baking powder on the top of that. It will make a paste, and let this sit for about 30 minutes. Repeat if necessary. That should take care of the smell. A variation of this is to use a lemon, dip it in salt, and rub your wood. But I found the baking soda works better for me.

Nourish

Especially important for your chopping boards, baguette trays, dough bowls and herb chopping bowls, it’s important to nourish your wood pieces once in a while. There are several types of oil products that are good for this: Food Grade Mineral Oil, Boos Board Cream with Beeswax are two I have used. Some people advise using vegetable oil or coconut oil, but these oils can go rancid and are not really the best for this reason.

A collection of antique kitchen or tableware is meant to be enjoyed, used and shared. They are precious, but were made to be hardworking and sturdy. They are not relics of the past, please don’t be afraid to use them!

Collecting kitchen antiques is based partially on knowledge, but mostly on love. These are antiques that represent a time and lifestyle in the past that we long for. One that embraces time spent in warm kitchens, creating special foods to feed those we love, and taking the time to enjoy meals with treasured family and friends.

We are always adding French {and English!} Wooden Antiques for your kitchen to our collection from Europe. Discover the latest ones HERE>

A BIENTOT

Shop for the best in French Antiques, furniture with the patina of age, vintage accessories to delight you and your family & friends, and French Country utilitarian pieces. Treasures that make your home fresh, beautiful, inspirational and above all uniquely yours. Visit our shop FrenchGardenHouse.com