Cutting Boards

A cutting board, which is also known as a chopping board, is an implement every kitchen needs. A cutting board is used as a flat surface on which to cut or slice things. Cutting boards are often made of wood or plastic. There are cutting boards made of glass which are easier to clean than the wooden or plastic ones, but are very damaging to the knives.


It is very important to be very clean with cutting boards because bacteria can reside in grooves produced by the cutting done on it, or in liquids that are left on the board. It is a really good idea to have at least two separate cutting boards; one to cut raw meat ona nd one for vegetables and other foodstuffs. Using a very diluted bleach solution is the best for disinfecting cutting boards.

Never put wood boards in a dishwasher, or left sitting in dishwater for long periods because of the water damage that can be done to the wood. A light food grade mineral oil is a good preservative for wood cutting boards because it keeps water from getting into the wood grain. You can also use faster drying food grade oil like poppyseed oil, tung oil or linseed oil. Remember that most commercial linseed and tung oil are not “food grade” because they contain metallic driers and are toxic. Usually vegetable or olive oils are not recommended because they can go rancid, and make the board smell really bad and your food to pick up the taste of the rancid oil.

Cutting boards should be treated when they start looking dry to keep the cutting board from cracking and becoming useless. Oil your cutting board at least 5 to 7 times a year or more often if necessary.

When your wood or plastic cutting boards end having very deep cuts in them they really need to be resurfaced because the deep cuts can harbor lots of harmful bacteria, or in the case of plastic boards, mildew. It is easy to resurface a wood cutting board with woodworking tools like scrapers or planers. Do not use sandpaper because it will leave abrasives from the sandpaper in the surface that will dull your knives. It is better to just go and buy a new plastic cutting board than to resurface it. With glass cutting boards the only thing you would have to do is replace it if it got chipped or cracked.

Whatever type of cutting board you decide to use just remember that there are pros and cons to each type depending on what you used them for.