Abstract: A cookware device includes balsa wood having a sufficiently high specific heat to allow a user to grasp the cookware device with one or more bare hands immediately after exposure to heat. The balsa wood may form part of the cookware device or may be located on a handle attached to the cookware device for a user to grasp. The balsa wood material includes a specific heat of greater than about 3.5 J/g*K, a density of less than about seven pounds per cubic foot, and/or a grain angle between about 30 degrees and about 60 degrees in some embodiments. The cookware device or cookware device handle may also cool quickly when removed from a heat source in some embodiments.