Comments on: Choosing a Cutting Board

By: cutting board

cutting board — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:18:53 +0000

Every great meal starts with a quality cutting board.

A cutting board has become a core part of our kitchens, for providing the chopping space for food preparation, or to serving of the finished meal. Up there with the chef’s knife, the cutting board is probably the most used kitchen tool in our home. A cutting board often double as a protective support or ‘hot plate’ for food arrangement. Every kitchen has at least two or more, and it’s not unusual to have 4 or 5 of them. We recommend that ever kitchen has a minimum of two boards, one for fruits, fresh vegetables, bread and food that can be eaten raw. The other one is for cutting raw meat, poultry and fish. This way your risk of Salmonella is limited.

By: ThisNext- Blog

ThisNext- Blog — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 00:56:36 +0000

Back to the Cutting Board

Knives may be the most important tools in the kitchen, but they’re of limited use without a great cutting board. Settle in for a sharpening up on this ultimate culinary workhorse. First things first: Ditch the glass boards. That hard surface isn…

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 17:22:45 +0000

I did some research on cutting board materials before building one a while back. Wood is generally safer than plastic. Nothing lives for very long on dry wood. The danger is from bacteria in gouges or pores which don’t get cleaned and don’t dry out easily. Harder woods are better (and wood is better than plastic) because the knife doesn’t cut as deeply into them. Maple is the best common wood (ironwood and some other exotic woods may be slightly better). Bamboo tends to be even harder than maple, so some say it is superior for cutting boards. But there are some concerns about bamboo as Aurora noted.

With wood or bamboo boards, it improves safety and dur ability to oil them regularly. The coat of oil keeps water and bacteria from penetrating the pores. It also keeps flavors from carrying from one dish to the next. A lot of websites recommend mineral oil but I prefer walnut oil because it’s more like something I’d eat. You have to make sure not to use an oil that can go rancid.

Another thing to consider with wood or bamboo is regular vs. end grain cutting boards. End grain boards are typically thicker and more expensive, but supposedly don’t dull your knife as quickly. The wood is oriented so the blade cuts between the fibers of the end grain.

By: Clara Lee

Clara Lee — Sat, 02 Sep 2006 12:37:18 +0000

In regard to the safety issue of plastic vs. wood, there have been studies done that indicate that wood is safer than plastic depending on cleaning methods. The study I read said that because wood is so porous the bacteria sinks into the wood. If plastic boards are scarred, they can harbor the bacteria unless cleaned carefully, preferably in a dishwasher with hot water. Appropriate care and cleaning are the key to safety. I agree with Jesse that cleaning cutting boards with a bleach solution is the best practice.

By: Aurora

Aurora — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 22:28:09 +0000

While bamboo does seem to be something of a miracle product, it seems bamboo growing practices are not consistent.

Treehugger has a good summary on the basic issues (i.e., possible excessive pesticide/fertilizer use and clearing forests for bamboo fields) in this article on bamboo flooring.

The basics–choose a FSC certified board if possible (though I’m not even sure those exist for wood, let alone bamboo):
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/09/bamboo_flooring.php