Wood Cutting Board Safety and Care

… and a peek at how we make them.

It’s chile roasting season in New Mexico which means amazing smells are coming from every grocery store parking lot. The fire roasted peppers are dumped in a garbage bag that we take home to peel and chop. It seems like a good time to talk about cutting boards.

Safety

For many years, conventional wisdom was that plastic cutting boards were safer than wood. It turns out, this FDA guidance was not actually researched until food safety expert Dean Cliver, of UC-Davis, tackled the issue in the mid-80’s. Professor Cliver found out that wood cutting boards actually have significant advantages over plastic:

• While unmarred plastic is considered easier to clean, plastic is a soft substance and will accumulate many tiny cuts with use. These tiny channels not only harbor bacteria but are extremely difficult to clean. The right woods (hardwoods such as maple and cherry) are more resistant to these micro-cuts.
• Unless properly cleaned, bacteria will persist on plastic surfaces for some time. However, bacteria on wood boards can often be absorbed away from the surface by the capillaries of the wood. Once pulled down, the bacteria is not likely to return to the surface but is held below the surface until the board dries and the bacteria die.

Care of Wood Cutting Boards

Wooden cutting boards and utensils must be kept clean but are generally not dishwasher safe. They should get a good scrub (on both sides) after each use with warm, soapy water. Do not submerge or soak the boards in water – with too much moisture the board could swell and warp. Stand the board in an upright position to allow it to air dry on all sides. Another common cleaning technique is to rub the board with a lemon, cut in half and sprinkled with course salt. The salt acts as a mild abrasive and the lemon’s acid works as a disinfectant. This treatment should be followed by a quick wash with warm, soapy water.

Collected Hands cutting boards are finished with a mixture of food grade mineral oil and beeswax to protect the wood. Similar commercial finishes, such as Howard Butcher Block and Cutting Board Oil, can be re-applied once a month or so to maintain the finish. In time all cutting boards (wood or plastic) will show signs of wear. Wood cutting boards can be restored to their former glory with a little elbow grease and sand-paper to remove the marks. Please contact us if you would like details on the process.

Handmade for your Kitchen

Collected Hands cutting boards start with beautiful woods: domestic maple, cherry and walnut, sometimes accented with ethically sourced exotics such as padauk or African mahogany. The “random pattern” cutting board is one of our most popular products and is available in various sizes. We also make more regular patterns such as the two-toned checkerboard. Please contact us if you would like to discuss a custom size or pattern.

Neal’s cutting boards can be found in our Albuquerque brick and mortar stores or in our online store.

References:

A copy of Dean Cliver’s article (with full references) can be found on https://www.naturalhandyman.com/iip/infxtra/infcuttingboard.html

Fast Facts About Cutting Boards and Food Safety in Your Kitchen, Matt Shipman, news.ncsu.edu