A wooden salad bowl brings aesthetics and makes the salad color more vibrant and attractive. However, it can soon get tacky and grimy due to exposure to salad dressings, particles, oils, and other ingredients used to prepare the menu.
Thus, you have to learn how to clean a wooden salad bowl to ensure food safety. Also, cleaning tips for the wooden salad bowl are crucial because of the fragility of the wooden structure on the bowl. Here, we put up the right ways to clean and maintain the salad serving bowl.
How to Clean A Wooden Salad Bowl?
When you clean the salad bowl, you must focus on keeping its beautiful finish intact. Otherwise, the salad bowl would lose its look and awesomeness.
Step 1: Removing the Residue and Cleaning
Many people use the liquid dishwasher to clean the gunk and oils from the wooden bowl. But its harshness may ruin the beautiful finish.
Instead, mild soap mixed in cold water works best to clean the bowl. But you don’t need to drip the bowl for several minutes in the solution. Just give it a quick wash using the softer side of the sponge. The softer side will help you in keeping the finish unharmed.
The abrasive side will dismantle the finish with rough scratching.
Once the bowl is free of residuals, let it air dry in a cool but clean space. You don’t need to use the dryer to soak off the water from the bowl.
Step 2: Avoid Heating
Heat or high temperature is surely the enemy of the best wooden salad bowls. High heat may cause the grain and structure of the wood to warp or get damaged. Thus, you should never put the cleaned bowl in the microwave for quick drying.
Also, avoid dishwashers for the same reason. We recommend you hand wash the bowl in cold water.
Step 3: Seasoning and Oiling
The seasoning helps to remove any imperfections from the salad bowl. Since the bowl receives a massive amount of salad dressing and oils, its zest goes inside the wooden grain. Seasoning also helps you to remove such impurities to highlight the original taste of your salad.
You can use lemon as an antibacterial for seasoning the bowl. Just cut the lemon roughly in half and rub it in the bowl. Also, a mixture of 1:5 vinegar and waterworks to remove the remaining impurities. The vinegar is known for its anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. Thus, fill the entire bowl with the vinegar solution for further seasoning for up to 10 minutes.
Finally, use food-grade oil to upkeep the solid finish and color of the bowl and prevent it from fading soon.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- Are wooden bowls for salad indeed sanitary?
Yes, the bowls are sanitary. Also, unlike plastic bowls, you can use them to serve hot foods without thinking twice about health issues. These bowls are safe.
- Will oiling the bowl help?
Yes, oiling the bowl with food-grade oil will help to hold its color and finish well. But you should not use vegetable oil as it won’t work.
Conclusion
Cleaning a salad bowl is easy. These three steps on how to clean a wooden salad bowl should help you clean and maintain the bowl safely for years. You need not worry about its sanitary as long as you clean and store it properly.