How to Get Rid of the Smell of Garlic on a Wooden Cutting Board
If you have wooden utensils or cutting boards, you have probably noticed that they are capable of trapping pungent odors. As much as we love our wooden kitchen tools, they are also porous, so they easily absorb harsh odors and then transfer them to the foods we cook later (watermelon with garlic, anyone?).
The common method of cleaning wooden kitchen utensils – washing them with soap and water and then oiling – is great for most situations; but soap and water do not always do the job of getting rid of particularly strong garlic or onion odors.
One suggested answer that suits Lifehacker Senior Cooking Editor Claire Lower is to have a dedicated wooden spoon just for garlic . This is a good decision that may work for many people, but the plan will fall apart if you have an absent-minded spouse and / or children. Sure, you can tell them not to use certain utensils for certain purposes, but chances are they’ll get it wrong and forget (or they didn’t listen to you at all).
Another answer to the question about garlic spoons is to give up wooden utensils altogether, but this is a difficult task for those of us who love them. However, as Kitchn recently reported , there is an effective (and simple) way to get rid of the pungent smell of wooden dishes: clean the dishes with a paste of baking soda and water. Baking soda can neutralize odors , and mixing it with a little water means it will be drawn into the wood, where it will neutralize any odors lying inside.
Washing wooden dishes with baking soda and water
To test this, I decided to first chop the garlic on a wooden cutting board, then rub it with a baking soda paste, and then chop the apple slices on the same board for a taste test. I chopped a bunch of garlic, so when I finished, the board smelled like it. I then made a thick paste with baking soda and water and brushed it off.
My first try didn’t work out as well as I hoped. Although the board smelled mostly like wood, when I used it to cut open the apple, the slices came out with a pungent garlic flavor. These pieces were thrown into the trash, and I went back to the [drawing] board to try again.
The instructions were to let the baking soda stand for about a minute. I suppose that for the first try, I let him sit for a meager minute, rather than err on the side of more.
The second time I covered the board with a thick paste and let it sit while I went and completed a few more tasks, which took about five minutes. After about a minute of washing the dishes, I washed off the paste and ran the odor test it passed. Then I cut another apple with it, hoping I didn’t have to throw that away.
And guess what? The apple tasted like a goddamn apple, not a garlic apple that nobody needs. So, we stick to this technique – if you are patient enough to let the paste sit for a few minutes and dry thoroughly.