Caring for a wooden cutting board
June 4, 2024 9:18 PM Subscribe
Do you have a beautiful, chonky wooden cutting board that you regularly care for so it lasts? What is it and how are you caring for it?
I have decided that owning a huge beautiful wooden cutting board is obviously the solution that will finally get me to cook more (example) but I am worried about taking care of it. I know the obvious stuff like don’t leave it soaking in water or put it in the dishwasher, but I quickly get confused reading all the different “right” ways to care for it.
Do you have an aesthetically pleasing giant wooden cutting board you recommend? And what is your current care routine? Oiling it - what kind of oil, how often, what is the actual process, etc. I’m willing to put in the work to keep it beautiful but I’m having this weird mental block where for some reason I feel like it will be really hard to take care of and I’ll mess it up somehow. Reassure me!
I have decided that owning a huge beautiful wooden cutting board is obviously the solution that will finally get me to cook more (example) but I am worried about taking care of it. I know the obvious stuff like don’t leave it soaking in water or put it in the dishwasher, but I quickly get confused reading all the different “right” ways to care for it.
Do you have an aesthetically pleasing giant wooden cutting board you recommend? And what is your current care routine? Oiling it - what kind of oil, how often, what is the actual process, etc. I’m willing to put in the work to keep it beautiful but I’m having this weird mental block where for some reason I feel like it will be really hard to take care of and I’ll mess it up somehow. Reassure me!
I don't have a particular cutting board I recommend (I think the one I use came with my knife block?), but I do recommend this kind of wood butter which I'm not married that that particular brand but there's a lot of people selling equivalent mineral-oil-and-beeswax products and it's just two ingredients so I assume they're all the same. I also use it on my wooden spoons and pizza peel and other wooden kitchenware.
My process is "smear a thin coat on, leave it soak in overnight, and then wipe off any excess" I do that maybe once a year, though probably twice a year would be fine too.
Even without doing any special care at all I think I'd expect a cutting board that you don't do the things you say you know not to do to last 5+ years with no problem.
posted by aubilenon at 9:33 PM on June 4 [2 favorites]
My process is "smear a thin coat on, leave it soak in overnight, and then wipe off any excess" I do that maybe once a year, though probably twice a year would be fine too.
Even without doing any special care at all I think I'd expect a cutting board that you don't do the things you say you know not to do to last 5+ years with no problem.
posted by aubilenon at 9:33 PM on June 4 [2 favorites]
I own several big Boos Blocks. That's what you want.
posted by limeonaire at 9:51 PM on June 4 [2 favorites]
posted by limeonaire at 9:51 PM on June 4 [2 favorites]
My wooden cutting board stinks even after using lemon juice and salt or baking soda paste to clean it after cutting onions and garlic, so I would just build that into your expectations. It's still worth doing because it dramatically improves the odor but I've never completely removed stinky allium smell.
I am vegan so I never cut meat, but if I weren't I would still use a plastic board--thin or thick--for that purpose.
I always clean the board after use with hot soapy water and dry vertically behind my magnetic knife holder. I've cut staining things without issue (red onion, beets, etc) but I clean it up right away.
I use a vegan cutting board oil/wax every once in awhile when it's looking dry. Maybe 2-3 times a year. I'm sure the non-vegan ones work just as well. Sometimes I do a light sanding for any raised grain before using the waxy product.
Sometimes if I happen to have the mineral oil out for my wooden utensils I will do a quick rub and soak on the cutting board as well. I just wipe it over the board, let it soak for about 15-30 mins, then wipe excess and store.
posted by MagnificentVacuum at 10:27 PM on June 4 [3 favorites]
I am vegan so I never cut meat, but if I weren't I would still use a plastic board--thin or thick--for that purpose.
I always clean the board after use with hot soapy water and dry vertically behind my magnetic knife holder. I've cut staining things without issue (red onion, beets, etc) but I clean it up right away.
I use a vegan cutting board oil/wax every once in awhile when it's looking dry. Maybe 2-3 times a year. I'm sure the non-vegan ones work just as well. Sometimes I do a light sanding for any raised grain before using the waxy product.
Sometimes if I happen to have the mineral oil out for my wooden utensils I will do a quick rub and soak on the cutting board as well. I just wipe it over the board, let it soak for about 15-30 mins, then wipe excess and store.
posted by MagnificentVacuum at 10:27 PM on June 4 [3 favorites]
I find huge cutting boards to be a huge pain, and they make me cook LESS, not more! If you haven't owned one before, maybe get a cheap one from Ikea (their big bamboo cutting boards are only $25) and use it for a couple weeks, just to make sure you like it before investing in something really pricey / beautiful.
The bigger a cutting board is, the harder it is to clean, and then you also need to think more about cross contamination of bacteria and also of flavours (onion, garlic, fish, spices, etc), so you almost need to create "zones" on it, which is annoying to me.
Personally, I much prefer having about 6 small thin cutting boards, around 6x8 inches, just big enough to chop an onion on, and being able to really wash them well AND fit them in my dish rack (so they can't be too thick or too heavy).
posted by nouvelle-personne at 10:42 PM on June 4 [10 favorites]
The bigger a cutting board is, the harder it is to clean, and then you also need to think more about cross contamination of bacteria and also of flavours (onion, garlic, fish, spices, etc), so you almost need to create "zones" on it, which is annoying to me.
Personally, I much prefer having about 6 small thin cutting boards, around 6x8 inches, just big enough to chop an onion on, and being able to really wash them well AND fit them in my dish rack (so they can't be too thick or too heavy).
posted by nouvelle-personne at 10:42 PM on June 4 [10 favorites]
I'm just a crude peasant but all I do is scrub mine hard under very hot water and let it dry on its own. Yes, the surface is scratched up, but I don't care - looking well-used is part of the charm. If I were going to oil it I'd probably go for linseed or walnut oil, very thinly.
IMO hot water and drying is enough. I have several boards in rotation so they get a chance to really dry. The hygroscopic nature of wood may actually help kill bacteria or prevent them multiplying.
Interesting paper here on wood vs plastic. If you sanitise with bleach or something it probably doesn't matter anyway, but it's far from clear cut that plastic is more hygienic.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 11:10 PM on June 4 [10 favorites]
IMO hot water and drying is enough. I have several boards in rotation so they get a chance to really dry. The hygroscopic nature of wood may actually help kill bacteria or prevent them multiplying.
Interesting paper here on wood vs plastic. If you sanitise with bleach or something it probably doesn't matter anyway, but it's far from clear cut that plastic is more hygienic.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 11:10 PM on June 4 [10 favorites]
I don't cut anything on the big nice cutting board. I just oil it when it dries out and needs (mineral) oil. I keep other, smaller cutting boards around for actual cutting. I put those cutting boards on the big cutting board. This sounds weird, but it does change how I use the kitchen in a positive way. IYKYK.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 11:11 PM on June 4 [3 favorites]
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 11:11 PM on June 4 [3 favorites]
Seconding the Boos recommendation — but there are also lots of smaller manufacturers who sell nice boards online. I got a big, well-made end grain cutting board from a building materials outlet store for less than half of what it would cost from Boos. If you have a place like this near you that sells butcher block countertops, etc. there's a good chance they'll also sell cutting boards.
End grain is beautiful and gentle on your knives, but needs more frequent oiling. You also want to make sure it's at least 1.5" thick (preferably more) which will make it even more expensive and heavy. Edge grain will work just fine, will be cheaper, can be thinner, and doesn't require as much care. Face grain is ok too but is more prone to warping over time.
As far as care, food grade mineral oil will do — you don't need anything formulated specifically for cutting boards. Here's a good guide to the various types of oils and waxes you could use (and ones not to use) if you wanted some other options. Give the board a couple applications of oil before using it. Allow the oil to soak in for several hours each time. Then reapply maybe twice a year or if it looks like it's getting dry. That's really all you need to do care-wise.
posted by theory at 11:11 PM on June 4 [2 favorites]
End grain is beautiful and gentle on your knives, but needs more frequent oiling. You also want to make sure it's at least 1.5" thick (preferably more) which will make it even more expensive and heavy. Edge grain will work just fine, will be cheaper, can be thinner, and doesn't require as much care. Face grain is ok too but is more prone to warping over time.
As far as care, food grade mineral oil will do — you don't need anything formulated specifically for cutting boards. Here's a good guide to the various types of oils and waxes you could use (and ones not to use) if you wanted some other options. Give the board a couple applications of oil before using it. Allow the oil to soak in for several hours each time. Then reapply maybe twice a year or if it looks like it's getting dry. That's really all you need to do care-wise.
posted by theory at 11:11 PM on June 4 [2 favorites]
Just to give you an idea, here is my fave big board after a decade of zero care and hard use. It's laminated radiata pine and rimu. So this is what happens if you do zip except scrub.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 11:18 PM on June 4
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 11:18 PM on June 4
I have used different cutting boards in different ways for years, and my current setup is: one wooden board (not my choice; it was a gift) which is only used to cut bread and non-stinky hard cheese. This gets scrubbed with hot water (and dishwashing liquid only if it had cheese on it); not after every use but usually when I've finished my bread (I only eat bread sometimes).
For everything else I have a set of colour-coded nylon boards which (crucially) are thick and not floppy, so they can go in my dishwasher (although sometimes I wash them by hand). This avoids cross-contamination. I also have two smaller nylon boards that I use for small cutting tasks that leave no smelly residue.
A kitchen hill that I will absolutely die on is that not properly washing wooden utensils and boards that you use for everything with water and a detergent is disgusting. I can't describe the level of revulsion that I feel when I bite into a cheese sandwich, an apple, etc., and taste the rancid fat and rotten onion that's been building up for years on someone's gross, unclean wooden cutting board.
posted by confluency at 12:55 AM on June 5 [1 favorite]
For everything else I have a set of colour-coded nylon boards which (crucially) are thick and not floppy, so they can go in my dishwasher (although sometimes I wash them by hand). This avoids cross-contamination. I also have two smaller nylon boards that I use for small cutting tasks that leave no smelly residue.
A kitchen hill that I will absolutely die on is that not properly washing wooden utensils and boards that you use for everything with water and a detergent is disgusting. I can't describe the level of revulsion that I feel when I bite into a cheese sandwich, an apple, etc., and taste the rancid fat and rotten onion that's been building up for years on someone's gross, unclean wooden cutting board.
posted by confluency at 12:55 AM on June 5 [1 favorite]
(I agree about the beeswax + mineral oil combination for occasional care and feeding of wooden boards -- you may be able to make your own more cheaply than buying a fancy specialised product.)
posted by confluency at 12:56 AM on June 5 [1 favorite]
posted by confluency at 12:56 AM on June 5 [1 favorite]
I have a nice bamboo one that I just wash off with warm water and maybe a little dove detergent. I'm not super careful with it, and have never used oil treatment on it. I do blot it dry after washing it. Sometimes I'll just sponge it down between uses. It's mostly used for vegetables. Sometimes chicken, then I will wash with soapy water. The issue I have is sometimes water will creep underneath the board and sit for days. It's very near the sink. Mold has developed on the bottom surface. Then I use diluted Clorox to scrub it clean. Sit it out in the sun to dry. I've never gotten sick from using it.
posted by Czjewel at 2:17 AM on June 5 [1 favorite]
posted by Czjewel at 2:17 AM on June 5 [1 favorite]
I have a nice, roughly foot-square, wood block that was a gift over forty years ago. It’s my favorite kitchen tool. A good large size that doesn’t feel cramped while working. I give it a good, soapy scrub every once in awhile, followed by a re-application of mineral oil.
Over time, because of all the cutting/chopping done on it over the decades, the surface was actually slightly concaved. I found a local woodworker and had them resurface the block nice and flat. Once true, the block spent about three days sitting in a vat of mineral oil. The thing looked brand new when I got it back, good for another forty years.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:35 AM on June 5 [2 favorites]
Over time, because of all the cutting/chopping done on it over the decades, the surface was actually slightly concaved. I found a local woodworker and had them resurface the block nice and flat. Once true, the block spent about three days sitting in a vat of mineral oil. The thing looked brand new when I got it back, good for another forty years.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:35 AM on June 5 [2 favorites]
I also wash and dry my cutting boards (soap and hot water, a quick scrub, definitely never leave in the water, even for 10 seconds). One important thing when standing them to dry vertically is never to let the bet board sit on an edge on a counter while it dries - it'll get dark and mildew-y, which is hard to fix. It's better to prop it up in a drying rack with space for air all around, or use something dry and absorbent underneath.
posted by pipeski at 3:03 AM on June 5 [1 favorite]
posted by pipeski at 3:03 AM on June 5 [1 favorite]
Everyday care: Wash with hot soapy wet wash cloth at the sink (I don't immerse it in water), rinse, dry with towel, let stand on edge on a towel to finish air drying.
When needed - maybe twice a year- I use a beeswax and mineral oil treatment like this.
I chose mineral oil as it won't turn rancid, and I'm lucky to have a beekeeper in the family for the wax.
I make a smaller batch than that recipe calls for, and melt the wax and oil directly in a Mason jar, set in a sauce pan of water, so there's no need to pour it into jars.
NOTE: use food- grade mineral oil, found in the pharmacy.
I love using the board daily, and the wax-and-oil feels great on my hands.
posted by evilmomlady at 4:13 AM on June 5
When needed - maybe twice a year- I use a beeswax and mineral oil treatment like this.
I chose mineral oil as it won't turn rancid, and I'm lucky to have a beekeeper in the family for the wax.
I make a smaller batch than that recipe calls for, and melt the wax and oil directly in a Mason jar, set in a sauce pan of water, so there's no need to pour it into jars.
NOTE: use food- grade mineral oil, found in the pharmacy.
I love using the board daily, and the wax-and-oil feels great on my hands.
posted by evilmomlady at 4:13 AM on June 5
Rinse off, let dry.
I put on some walnut oil twice a year or so. I was told that of all the natural oils, it takes the longest to go bad.
posted by freakazoid at 4:44 AM on June 5 [1 favorite]
I put on some walnut oil twice a year or so. I was told that of all the natural oils, it takes the longest to go bad.
posted by freakazoid at 4:44 AM on June 5 [1 favorite]
I'm confused by the people who are worried about contamination. My understanding is that studies have shown that wooden boards are actually easier to clean, with just soap and water, than plastic ones, because the plastic ones get grooves that bacteria hangs out in. I have never needed to create permanent "zones" on my boards.
I guess maybe you mean that if you have a really big board, you can't cut meat on it and then veg without washing it or keeping VERY distinct zones? (My solution has always just been to have two boards, one smaller for when I don't want/need such a large surface...)
Anyway, I put mineral oil on mine a couple times a year and that's it, like many others have said. I've had some darkening which might be mildew I guess on the bottom edge, where it usually rests on the counter, but there is no mildew smell even though I'm pretty sensitive to that stuff so it doesn't bother me. I also haven't had problems with allium scent, but on that one I will admit I eat so many alliums that I'm not sure I'd notice.
I will also note that you can often pick one of these up cheap from a thrift store, give it a few coats of mineral oil, and rejuvenate it, as has been implied above. People don't treat them right and then chuck them!
posted by branca at 6:30 AM on June 5 [1 favorite]
I guess maybe you mean that if you have a really big board, you can't cut meat on it and then veg without washing it or keeping VERY distinct zones? (My solution has always just been to have two boards, one smaller for when I don't want/need such a large surface...)
Anyway, I put mineral oil on mine a couple times a year and that's it, like many others have said. I've had some darkening which might be mildew I guess on the bottom edge, where it usually rests on the counter, but there is no mildew smell even though I'm pretty sensitive to that stuff so it doesn't bother me. I also haven't had problems with allium scent, but on that one I will admit I eat so many alliums that I'm not sure I'd notice.
I will also note that you can often pick one of these up cheap from a thrift store, give it a few coats of mineral oil, and rejuvenate it, as has been implied above. People don't treat them right and then chuck them!
posted by branca at 6:30 AM on June 5 [1 favorite]
Seconding the recommendation for a bamboo board. I picked mine up at a grocery store over a decade ago and it's been practically bulletproof, with nary a dent or warp. I expect years more life out of it. It was inexpensive, too! It does tend to hold onto garlic and onion smells, so I keep a separate plastic board for cutting fruit.
posted by missmobtown at 7:11 AM on June 5
posted by missmobtown at 7:11 AM on June 5
I have a LÄMPLIG from Ikea - notable for being made from sustainable/naturally anti-microbial bamboo and for being inexpensive. Its other attraction is that it is large - spanning the full depth of a standard worktop - so hence big enough to prep a number of different items in one go.
posted by rongorongo at 7:43 AM on June 5
posted by rongorongo at 7:43 AM on June 5
I made my own cutting board because I got tired of stuff getting shoved off the edges of all the smaller ones we already had. It's a 445mm offcut from a plank of 285x19mm dressed radiata pine we'd bought for another project. I flattened and smoothed the saw-cut ends with a bastard file, then used the same file to put a 4mm chamfer on all twelve edges, then rubbed a lot of flaxseed oil into it.
The oil was from an old bottle that had been sitting around in the back of our pantry for long enough to be no good for cooking any more. I used my bare hands to rub it into the board, just holding it in both hands and turning it over and around as I went and rubbing in the oil until the pool in my palm I started with had all been taken up, a process I did not expect to be anywhere near as sensually delightful as it was.
I did that once a day, leaving the board sitting outside in the sun for a few hours each time to help the oil soak in and start to cure, and kept on with it until the end grains weren't soaking it up any faster than the cutting surfaces (about ten applications, if I recall correctly). After that, I left it outside in the sun for a few hours every day for a couple of weeks. I judged it ready to use once it felt completely dry rather than oily or tacky.
Two years on and both sides are now beautifully textured with the scores and scratches of heavy regular use. The ends and edges have darkened from the original blond pine to a lovely caramel orange. A couple of times I've thought the scored-up faces were getting a bit pale and rubbed in a bit more of that old flaxseed oil, which is now a deep gold as it comes out of the bottle.
All I do for regular care is scrub it down thoroughly with a stainless steel swarf pad under hot running water as soon as possible after using it, then leave it sitting vertically in a bamboo rack to drain and dry. The ends are not mildew-darkened the way our older pine board is because I've never let this one spend any time sitting in a puddle of its own drainage. Even if I had, though, the frankly astounding volume of oil those endgrains soaked up would have stopped any water getting into them.
I cut everything on this board. Closest any of us gets to keeping raw meat isolated from vegetables is cutting the vegetables first, and none of us has ever had food poisoning off anything that came out of our own kitchen. It's had any amount of onion and garlic chopped on it, but I just now went to the kitchen and took it out of the rack and gave it a good sniff all over, and all I can smell is oiled wood.
posted by flabdablet at 7:53 AM on June 5 [1 favorite]
The oil was from an old bottle that had been sitting around in the back of our pantry for long enough to be no good for cooking any more. I used my bare hands to rub it into the board, just holding it in both hands and turning it over and around as I went and rubbing in the oil until the pool in my palm I started with had all been taken up, a process I did not expect to be anywhere near as sensually delightful as it was.
I did that once a day, leaving the board sitting outside in the sun for a few hours each time to help the oil soak in and start to cure, and kept on with it until the end grains weren't soaking it up any faster than the cutting surfaces (about ten applications, if I recall correctly). After that, I left it outside in the sun for a few hours every day for a couple of weeks. I judged it ready to use once it felt completely dry rather than oily or tacky.
Two years on and both sides are now beautifully textured with the scores and scratches of heavy regular use. The ends and edges have darkened from the original blond pine to a lovely caramel orange. A couple of times I've thought the scored-up faces were getting a bit pale and rubbed in a bit more of that old flaxseed oil, which is now a deep gold as it comes out of the bottle.
All I do for regular care is scrub it down thoroughly with a stainless steel swarf pad under hot running water as soon as possible after using it, then leave it sitting vertically in a bamboo rack to drain and dry. The ends are not mildew-darkened the way our older pine board is because I've never let this one spend any time sitting in a puddle of its own drainage. Even if I had, though, the frankly astounding volume of oil those endgrains soaked up would have stopped any water getting into them.
I cut everything on this board. Closest any of us gets to keeping raw meat isolated from vegetables is cutting the vegetables first, and none of us has ever had food poisoning off anything that came out of our own kitchen. It's had any amount of onion and garlic chopped on it, but I just now went to the kitchen and took it out of the rack and gave it a good sniff all over, and all I can smell is oiled wood.
posted by flabdablet at 7:53 AM on June 5 [1 favorite]
I also just wash my big cutting board with soap, hot water and the scrubby side of a sponge, like any other normal thing in the kitchen. On a nice day I prefer to put it to dry in the sunshine, on the premise that fresh air and a blast of UV can only help.
Occasionally I'll oil it, but how often you need to do this is very dependent on the local humidity. I use mineral oil usually (food grade of course), because it's easy to get and very stable. I just pour it straight on and rub it around with a paper towel until all the oil is absorbed. If I've poured too much I do my wooden spoons as well. Don't use your cooking oils on a cutting board, that's how you get the rancidity problem that confluency mentioned. I also like to use a bench scraper to smooth out the surface, knock down any loose wood fibres and slightly flatten the cutting area.
I've never had a problem with lingering odors, but it does help to order your veg; I usually will chop my alliums first, then the other items, preferably ending with something bland, like potatoes, or slightly acidic, like tomatoes. And I never cut raw meat on it, because I don't really like to handle raw meat. (I keep a disposable plastic board for the approx one time per year I forget why butchers exist and think it's a good idea to debone my own chicken.)
The safety guideline for sizing cutting boards is that you should be able to lay the biggest knife you'll be using completely within the area of the board--so for a 12" chef's knife you're gonna want a minimum of about a 12"x14" board. Some swear by end grain (the ones with lots of little squares), but for most people I tend to think it doesn't really matter. The one thing that end grain is definitely good for is that it shows cut marks way less, so if you think that might bother you, go for it.
posted by radiogreentea at 8:53 AM on June 5
Occasionally I'll oil it, but how often you need to do this is very dependent on the local humidity. I use mineral oil usually (food grade of course), because it's easy to get and very stable. I just pour it straight on and rub it around with a paper towel until all the oil is absorbed. If I've poured too much I do my wooden spoons as well. Don't use your cooking oils on a cutting board, that's how you get the rancidity problem that confluency mentioned. I also like to use a bench scraper to smooth out the surface, knock down any loose wood fibres and slightly flatten the cutting area.
I've never had a problem with lingering odors, but it does help to order your veg; I usually will chop my alliums first, then the other items, preferably ending with something bland, like potatoes, or slightly acidic, like tomatoes. And I never cut raw meat on it, because I don't really like to handle raw meat. (I keep a disposable plastic board for the approx one time per year I forget why butchers exist and think it's a good idea to debone my own chicken.)
The safety guideline for sizing cutting boards is that you should be able to lay the biggest knife you'll be using completely within the area of the board--so for a 12" chef's knife you're gonna want a minimum of about a 12"x14" board. Some swear by end grain (the ones with lots of little squares), but for most people I tend to think it doesn't really matter. The one thing that end grain is definitely good for is that it shows cut marks way less, so if you think that might bother you, go for it.
posted by radiogreentea at 8:53 AM on June 5
Occasional application of mineral oil is truly all you need. Just make sure it's food-grade mineral oil.
posted by Dr. Wu at 9:00 AM on June 5
posted by Dr. Wu at 9:00 AM on June 5
I have a number of artisan-made wooden cutting boards, including two from Ed Wohl, and am serious about keeping them nice-looking. Water is a villain because it raises the grain and makes the board rough*. If I've used the board for cutting dry items like bread or broccoli that leave no residue, I just brush it off when done and put it away. If there is residue or something stuck to the board, I'll rinse it off and perhaps use a Euroscrubby to clean it, and then dry it right away and thoroughly. The boards get treated with Boos Block Cream when they look like they need it, but I suspect any food-grade mineral oil would work just as well. And I never cut raw meat on my wood boards. For that, I have dishwasher-safe boards and will even use disposable cutting boards for really icky stuff like raw chicken.
*If a cutting board has developed a rough surface, it can be fixed by going over it with a dry Scotch-Brite green scrubber to smooth down the grain.
posted by DrGail at 9:25 AM on June 5
*If a cutting board has developed a rough surface, it can be fixed by going over it with a dry Scotch-Brite green scrubber to smooth down the grain.
posted by DrGail at 9:25 AM on June 5
I lived with someone who, despite my protests, regularly put the wooden cutting board in the dishwasher. They'd last maybe 6 months.
posted by theora55 at 9:34 AM on June 5
posted by theora55 at 9:34 AM on June 5
I can't describe the level of revulsion that I feel when I bite into a cheese sandwich, an apple, etc., and taste the rancid fat and rotten onion that's been building up for years on someone's gross, unclean wooden cutting board.
I experience a similar level of revulsion on biting into a cheese sandwich and tasting the hideous industrial perfume that dishwashing detergent infuses into anything even slightly porous. Which is exactly why my own cutting board gets only a thorough scrub under running hot water before any food juices have had a chance to dry out on it.
If my board were gross and unclean it would smell bad, and it would make foods I cut on it taste bad. It does neither of those things, despite never seeing detergent and despite the only oil I've ever treated it with being a drying oil and therefore having undergone rancidification by design.
The downside of using a drying oil like flaxseed is that it takes a couple of weeks to polymerize and harden after application, during which I need to take the board out of use. The upside is that once that's done and the surface has had a good scrub and wash down, the board is then not blotting small amounts of mineral oil including fuck-knows-what dissolved volatiles into everything that's cut on it.
posted by flabdablet at 10:02 AM on June 5
I experience a similar level of revulsion on biting into a cheese sandwich and tasting the hideous industrial perfume that dishwashing detergent infuses into anything even slightly porous. Which is exactly why my own cutting board gets only a thorough scrub under running hot water before any food juices have had a chance to dry out on it.
If my board were gross and unclean it would smell bad, and it would make foods I cut on it taste bad. It does neither of those things, despite never seeing detergent and despite the only oil I've ever treated it with being a drying oil and therefore having undergone rancidification by design.
The downside of using a drying oil like flaxseed is that it takes a couple of weeks to polymerize and harden after application, during which I need to take the board out of use. The upside is that once that's done and the surface has had a good scrub and wash down, the board is then not blotting small amounts of mineral oil including fuck-knows-what dissolved volatiles into everything that's cut on it.
posted by flabdablet at 10:02 AM on June 5
We've had two very average-quality ones for about 30 years, use them daily, and treat them thusly:
posted by introp at 8:02 PM on June 5
- wash in soapy water of whatever temperature the water happens to come out at
- drip dry or occasionally towel dry
- don't let them stand in water
- every, oh, maybe five years we lightly sand the surfaces and edges because the nicks and color shift get annoying at some point
- at that point we'll soak them in mineral oil (acquired from local CVS or Walgreens or such): a couplefew "coats" and wipe off the excess
posted by introp at 8:02 PM on June 5
Oil doesn't meaningfully protect the wood
Drying oils like flaxseed do protect wood, especially when allowed to soak a long way into the end grain. Mostly what they protect it from, though, is excessive uptake of water. Treating a wooden cutting board as a kitchen tool rather than an objet d'art is inevitably going to cause heavy damage to any finish that's been applied to its cutting surfaces. To my way of thinking that's a good thing, because the whole reason I use the wooden board in the first place instead of some dishwasher-friendly plastic thing is to maintain better hygiene. Exposed wood desiccates and kills bacteria; plastics, including heavy varnishes, not so much.
I know that my flaxseed finish is doing a good job of keeping my cutting board mostly dry on the inside because our older cutting board - the one I didn't make - is the same width and thickness of the same kind of pine as my newer one, shows no sign of ever having had any kind of finish applied to it, and is noticeably more susceptible to warping and getting annoyingly wobbly.
you probably shouldn't be varnishing your cutting board
When properly applied, a drying oil finish does go quite some way across that blurry line toward varnish. Even thinking of cured flaxseed oil as a varnish, though, a polymer finish whose monomer was a food-grade oil and hence most likely free from consequential levels of industrial contaminants falls well on the acceptable side of my own ewww boundary, though I can easily understand others having different criteria. I would certainly never use something like polyurethane on a cutting board and nor would I use one of the "boiled" linseed or tung oil finishes that are actually not boiled, just loaded up with metal salts to catalyze and speed curing.
Uncured finish oils, be they vegetable or mineral, are not really something I'm interested in ingesting - not because I think they're poisonous, but just because even in the minuscule quantities that will transfer off a cutting board I don't like the scents and flavours they drag around with them.
I have a LÄMPLIG from Ikea - notable for being made from sustainable/naturally anti-microbial bamboo and for being inexpensive
Bamboo has a much higher silica content than pine, and therefore dulls knife edges more quickly. It's also no more anti-microbial than wood.
posted by flabdablet at 10:16 PM on June 5
Drying oils like flaxseed do protect wood, especially when allowed to soak a long way into the end grain. Mostly what they protect it from, though, is excessive uptake of water. Treating a wooden cutting board as a kitchen tool rather than an objet d'art is inevitably going to cause heavy damage to any finish that's been applied to its cutting surfaces. To my way of thinking that's a good thing, because the whole reason I use the wooden board in the first place instead of some dishwasher-friendly plastic thing is to maintain better hygiene. Exposed wood desiccates and kills bacteria; plastics, including heavy varnishes, not so much.
I know that my flaxseed finish is doing a good job of keeping my cutting board mostly dry on the inside because our older cutting board - the one I didn't make - is the same width and thickness of the same kind of pine as my newer one, shows no sign of ever having had any kind of finish applied to it, and is noticeably more susceptible to warping and getting annoyingly wobbly.
you probably shouldn't be varnishing your cutting board
When properly applied, a drying oil finish does go quite some way across that blurry line toward varnish. Even thinking of cured flaxseed oil as a varnish, though, a polymer finish whose monomer was a food-grade oil and hence most likely free from consequential levels of industrial contaminants falls well on the acceptable side of my own ewww boundary, though I can easily understand others having different criteria. I would certainly never use something like polyurethane on a cutting board and nor would I use one of the "boiled" linseed or tung oil finishes that are actually not boiled, just loaded up with metal salts to catalyze and speed curing.
Uncured finish oils, be they vegetable or mineral, are not really something I'm interested in ingesting - not because I think they're poisonous, but just because even in the minuscule quantities that will transfer off a cutting board I don't like the scents and flavours they drag around with them.
I have a LÄMPLIG from Ikea - notable for being made from sustainable/naturally anti-microbial bamboo and for being inexpensive
Bamboo has a much higher silica content than pine, and therefore dulls knife edges more quickly. It's also no more anti-microbial than wood.
posted by flabdablet at 10:16 PM on June 5
Emmet's Good Stuff is a food-safe urethane specifically meant for sealing and protecting butcher's block.
And, the company you linked in your post has a blog post on how to care for their boards.
posted by nicwolff at 2:52 PM on June 6
And, the company you linked in your post has a blog post on how to care for their boards.
posted by nicwolff at 2:52 PM on June 6
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