Rancid smelling wooden salad bowl

Hmm, tricky, but nothing to lose by trying the standby of hot water and soda crystals?

Bicarbonate of soda and warm water?

Salt and lemon scrub maybe.

Bicarb? trouble is the oily dressings will have sunk deeply into the wood over the years.

I would try a scrub with salt and vinegar, leave to dry preferably outdoors on a good dry day, then re-oil with a light application of olive oil on kitchen paper. I got rid of my olive wood bowl when we moved abroad and I have regretted it ever since.

I may have to try all of these, they all sound good. I shall do them in order and report back when (if?) one works. Thanks to everyone for great ideas.

Another possibility is to soak the bowl in diluted hydrogen peroxide. Or spray it neat onto your bowl and leave for a while before rinsing off. Or mix with white vinegar.
I once spilled some kipper juice on a pair of jeans and it wouldn't wash out. Someone suggested this and it worked.
www.care2.com/greenliving/15-surprising-uses-for-hydrogen-peroxide.html

Wooden salad bowls look lovely but are impractical for dressed salads. I had a lovely one for a wedding present but sadly it had to go. The oil penetrates the wood and becomes rancid and smelly - a bit of a health hazard. Mine went on the bonfire and burnt very brightly, I now use a white china bowl which can be washed in the dishwasher. If you have them, check whether your wooden salad servers (nearly put tossers) are blessed with the same problem. Mind you, always worth having a go with the other solutions put forward so far. Do you still see wooden salad bowls for sale in UK?

I don't usually dress the salad - I like French dressing but DH likes salad cream (pleb [grin) so undressed it is until it reaches the plate.

However, a very nice small salad bowl just right for two fell off the draining board and split yesterday and the lovely teak one we had for a wedding present split a while ago.

Do you still see wooden salad bowls for sale in UK? I'm sure there must be some and I'm going out to look for one as soon as I get off GN.

I am a great fan of white vinegar - it seems to be a wonder cure all and maybe it would freshen and 'de pong'the bowl; worth a try. I put a cup full in the washing machine and dishwasher and run them empty - really gets rid of grease, old soap etc. and recently read that half a cup added to the white wash works wonders - it certainly does!

I find soaking in Milton - the baby steriliser- cures most ills- not sure if it will bleach the wood a bit though. I put all my wooden stuff in the dishwasher too but don't have any thing expensive to spoil.

My mother in law uses lemon, Bicarbonate of soda or white vinegar. But My sister in law mixes a cheep mouth wash with hot water and soak her bowl and her chopping boards in it, then rinses very well. She swears by this and says it kills bacteria she also uses it down drains and in washing machines. I don't have wooden salad bowl so I cant say more than hear say.

Try used coffee grounds. Rub a handful onto the inside surface of the bowl and leave it for an hour or so before washing them off. If the bowl still smells rancid, coat it again with coffee grounds, but this time fill the bowl with luke-warm water and let it stand for a while, before rinsing it.
Be careful not to use water that is hot, as a wooden bowl, like anything else of unvarnished wood won't take kindly to really hot water.
You can scrub practically anything with used coffee grounds, including washing your hands with them if you have been chopping onions or doing some other "smelly" job. They don't dry your skin out either, which is an advantage too.

cut a lemon i half "scrub"bowlrinse well wipe with white vinegar let stand than wash normal.
was taught to use lemon to clean disinfect wood cutting boards
also never let wood items sit with residue
rinse as soon as you are done with it.

Rosina I have also discovered the merits of white vinegar.
Just cleaned washing machine (1/2 cupful in empty drum, then hot wash 90")
Washing now smelling lovely.
All weeds have now been banished from patio after squirting with WV.
Block paving is next on the list.

So white vinegar would probably clean your salad bowl Icyalittle
any smell of vinegar would soon evaporate.

Bi- carb is another option, I use this clean fridge and to clean washing machine soap powder drawer .

I use real lemon juice or just rub the lemon over the wood to clean it and eliminate smells - good for bowls, boards, spoons etc. If that fails, then try the white vinegar or bicarb and use lemon afterwards to freshen after rinsing.

I love the idea of the used coffee grounds, grandtanteJE65 I've never seen that suggested anywhere before for the kind of kitchen hacks you recommend. Will try it tomorrow and see what happens.
1moleta3 I know - big wooden bowls were very popular in the 70s / 80s and it never occurred to me a hen not to dress a salad in mine. But the damage is done, and very many thanks to everyone for lots of possible solutions. I really don't want to add it to a bonfire!

I've never had a wooden salad bowl. And usually have the dressing separate for each person to add when the salad's on their plate. Apart from couscous, and potato salad.
An Indian friend told me about adding it later, she said if you mix it in a salad bowl the lettuce gets soggy.
Wooden chopping boards get smelly too, but not with oil.

I just came back to say that I used the coffee grounds (lazily mainly because the empty pot was just sitting there ready to use). I scoured the bowl round a bit with the grounds, then let it sit in the sun for an hour. Result! No more smell so far. It may of course be the hot sun that did it, but who cares. Then the remains of the grounds went on the compost. Thank you all for your suggestions, especially grandetante