I wasn’t always a snotty foodie. I wasn’t always as anal I am now about caring for my kitchen gear. I’m not above admitting my ignorance about things, like I used to put my Wusthof in the dishwasher and when I was ten years old I put a finished wood bowl in the microwave. So I have stayed away from wood gear for years -the stuff kept splitting on me and no one ever told me it was because you had to oil it and couldn’t soak it in water. (This was in the days before the wealth of knowledge on the information superhighway.)

Matt and I purchased a butcher block from Ikea for our new apartment. It’s made out of solid birch and metal, the GROLAND ($199). Here’s a photo of it (unoiled). Ikea says you should ONLY use their oil blend, BEHANDLA, on your Ikea gear. First of all, I usually call shenanigans when a company says to only use their products. Secondly, the vague ingredients listed on the website is different from what the actual container says: Linseed oil, tung oil, mineral oil, and lot of things that start with “benzo-” and end in cancer. Plus, it’s an Ikea product and that in itself doesn’t gain my confidence in their quality.

I took a chance and purchased John Boo’s Mystery Oil ($6-8 for 16 oz) based on John Boo’s reputation. The “mystery” is that it doesn’t tell you what the ingredients are. Various websites say it’s made of pure mineral oil, raw linseed oil, tung oil and natural citrus extracts. I couldn’t dig up anything else with my world class detective skills (read: Google searches). The bottle does say safe for any food preparation surface. I’ll let you know if I develop a toxic shock syndrome or something.

I read online that you are supposed to oil your new wood products once a week for the first month and once a month for the first year. And sand it down with fine sand paper once in awhile. I guess it’s a good thing I have a lot of time on my hands.