Homemade Board Butter (AKA Wood Butter or Spoon Butter)

For those who have been following MLST for any length of time, you know how much I love my bread boards. Ever since Mitch made some for me for Christmas a couple years ago, I've loved using these boards in my kitchen every day. They're practical and beautiful. Not only do I use them in my kitchen, but I also love using them in decorating as well. This time of year is a great time to layer with boards...anywhere, really. Whether they're stacked in a basket in your kitchen, or layered into a mantelscape, bread boards are beautiful.

Last year's winter mantel

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If you're going to be using your boards on a regular basis, they need to stay hydrated to prevent cracking. In other words, you have to occasionally oil your boards. This also includes any wooden utensil, like spoons. (Side note here--if you have coated cookware like teflon pans, bamboo/wooden spoons won't scratch the coating off, so they're a good choice for that kind of cookware.) So that brings us to today's topic: making board butter. 

Board butter is also called spoon butter since people use it to oil their spoons. I have yet to do mine, but that's definitely on the list.

There are varying opinions when it comes to oiling your wooden utensils (whether it's a board, spoon, or wooden bowl). Some people use mineral oil. This is probably the most popular choice since mineral oil won't spoil. I've used it in the past (before I made up some board butter), and it's fine in my opinion. Some people are leery of it though since mineral oil is a by-product of petroleum. Another option is using olive oil. But I know that olive oil, over time, goes rancid, and I definitely don't want my boards to start smelling five years down the road. So how did I make my board butter? Two ingredients.

Good ol' coconut oil and beeswax. I'm a huge fan of coconut oil. I've replaced all other vegetable oils (minus olive oil) with coconut oil. (To learn more about the benefits of refined coconut oil, Mitch wrote a blog post here that answers a lot of questions you may have.)

Here's my stack of thirsty boards (that Mitch made) waiting for some butter.

The process is super simple. Simply chop up the beeswax into small chunks (or if you get the small pellets of wax, you're good to go) and put in a glass canning jar. Add some coconut oil to the wax and heat it up either on your stove (in a water bath) or in the microwave. I did mine right on my stove.

After the oil and wax are melted, remove from heat and wait till it's a solid again.

Then simply put some on a cloth and wipe down your boards, working the butter into the wood.

Let it set over night, and rub off any excess with a clean cloth in the morning.

And let me tell ya--this stuff smells so good! It has a slight sweet honey scent to it, which is all natural. It even gives your hands a deep condition as you use it on your boards. All in all, it's good stuff! You'll want to use on your boards once every couple months, or as needed. 

We started selling our boards at a local vintage shop, so that's where all those boards up there went last week. Exciting times!

Homemade Board Butter

Ingredients

1 part beeswax to 3 parts coconut oil (I used a cup of oil)

Directions

Fill a mason jar with the beeswax and coconut oil and place inside a saucepan. Fill the saucepan with water until it reaches halfway up the jar. Turn stove to MEDIUM-LOW heat and allow the oil and wax to melt. Once melted, give it a good stir to help emulsify it and then carefully remove the jar from the water bath, add lid and allow to cool completely. Scoop out and rub the butter into your wooden utensils, letting it set in overnight, or for several hours. Take a clean cloth and wipe off any excess. 

For more fall-related stuff, go here and here.

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