Ideal Cutting Board Materials?

[jerseybounce_42]

With respect to knife cutting edge preservation what materials make a better cutting board? I’d suspect polypropylene would be pretty good and teak pretty bad with maple, birch, and cherry being somewhere in between.

[smcfalls13]

Being in a food service industry, I would not recommend any type of wood for a cutting board. The wood can harbor frightening amounts of bacteria, and it's extremely difficult to clean wood cutting boards properly.

In my store, we use the poly boards, doesn't hurt the edges of our knives too badly.

[Senate]

most of the board are now made with Teflon.

[zenheretic]

Yes, use the synthetic cutting boards over wood due to bacteria concerns. However, if you get a lot of cutting grooves on the synthetics: 1)dispose of the board as it too will harbor lots of bacteria 2) ease up on your cutting forces.... :)

[Ed Schempp]

I don't like plastic. I frequently wash my cutting board, with my sink sponge, and I eat lot of yogart. I'm sure my belly has a good verse evil battle actively raging. 300 grit finish is food safety standard. My dog often slips in a wet one when I not looking. Tasha loves dead stuff and kitty rocha.

I'm a lot more concerned shaking hands with 100 different people a day at a show, I use a hand sanitizer frequently in those environments...Take Care...Ed

[EricJohn]

I don't like plastic. I frequently wash my cutting board, with my sink sponge, and I eat lot of yogart. I'm sure my belly has a good verse evil battle actively raging. 300 grit finish is food safety standard. My dog often slips in a wet one when I not looking. Tasha loves dead stuff and kitty rocha.

I'm a lot more concerned shaking hands with 100 different people a day at a show, I use a hand sanitizer frequently in those environments...Take Care...Ed

LOL, Mr. Schempp! Remember, what does not kill us, only makes us stronger.

To good health,

- John

[Michael Cook]

:spyder: I like end grain bamboo. :spyder:

[jerseybounce_42]

:spyder: I like end grain bamboo. :spyder:

Sounds like end grain bamboo would have a lot of binder / glue in it. End grain seems to be good. A loooong time ago I had a butcher's block that was end grain birch. It was bolted together. Unfortunately it got used for fuel in my grandmother's cookstove. Interesting that wooden bucher blocks used to be the norm and now lots of people are peeing in their pants about the germs.

[butch]

:spyder: I like end grain bamboo. :spyder:

thats what i plan on having for most of my main work
that said i will have a plastic board for yard bird and seafood as they seem to be the most dangerous
things to remember have a few boards one for each food group and clean clean clean
just like everything most of us here spend a littl more on the "toys" we have and we also spend a little more time keeping up with them also
that is the way to be any board will work it just depends on how much time you take to keep it clean

[JaM]

There is nothing wrong with wood... after all, you cook your food afterwards, right ? And after using it, you wash it...

[Texas guy]

I have an endgrain wood butcher block in my kitchen that gets daily use from cutting fruits and veggies, to use has a trivet for hot pots and trays to a serving board for cheese and crackers. BUT, I have a seperate poly board I use for cutting raw meat only. This isn't for hygene has much has the fact I don't like to have to wash a huge butcher board (it is quite thick and heavy) after every apple or block of cheese I cut. The poly board you can just throw in the washer.
I really like to use my wooden board, my only complaint is that it warps easily. I hear the bamboo boards don't warp has much, so I would love to hear some more comments on them.

[The Deacon]

I'm with Ed, wood is the best. I like rock maple, but have heard good things about the end grain bamboo, just never tried it. Been using wood cutting boards for as long as I've been cooking, and ate food my mother cut up on one before that. Sixty years old, and the only time I've ever had food posioning was from restaraunt food. Only thing I won't use it for is fish.

[jerseybounce_42]

I have an endgrain wood butcher block in my kitchen that gets daily use from cutting fruits and veggies, to use has a trivet for hot pots and trays to a serving board for cheese and crackers. BUT, I have a seperate poly board I use for cutting raw meat only. This isn't for hygene has much has the fact I don't like to have to wash a huge butcher board (it is quite thick and heavy) after every apple or block of cheese I cut. The poly board you can just throw in the washer.
I really like to use my wooden board, my only complaint is that it warps easily. I hear the bamboo boards don't warp has much, so I would love to hear some more comments on them.

I understand that warping is caused by one side absorbing more moisture than the other. Warping can be reduced by 'sealing' the wood with mineral oil. I tried using food grade flax seed oil but it gets rancid. I salvaged a flax seed oil treated wooden bowl by scrubbing it with kosher salt, then with baking soda and then after a thorough drying treating it with mineral oil. A board that is put together with pieces that have opposing grains also helps reduce warping.

When I cut chesse, salami, etc on a teak board I cover the board with a couple o three layers of waxpaper.

[vampyrewolf]

I have 4-5 of the thin poly boards, and a couple hard plastic ones.... much easier to just use a couple boards to make supper and then toss em in the dishwasher, than worry about the order you cut everything in(afterall, who uses a single kitchen knife to make supper :p )

[mikewww]

I seem to remember Sal saying that a glass cutting board would not blunten a serrated blade unduly, as the tips of the serrations take the strain, leaving the cutting edges untouched. I have mixed feelings about this, but agree totally that that glass is the easiest substance to sanitise.

[jimbo@stn24]

As a recovering butcher, I have a fondness for wood (maple). It can be scraped and washed and seemed to be easier on knife edges. The poly has some advantages such as ease of care, but if you make alot of cuts as zen mentioned, the plastic can be cut into vertical "micro-sheets" and then fold on top of the void, trapping "greeblies" in. My life exposes me to more harmful stuff than most wood cutting boards can serve up :D .

[druid]

I have been told that the most important thing is to thoroughly and regularly clean your cutting board with hot soapy water.if I had my choice the cutting board I would go with a rock maple, followed by end grain bamboo for both aesthetic and environmental reasons.

[jerseybounce_42]

I have been told that the most important thing is to thoroughly and regularly clean your cutting board with hot soapy water.if I had my choice the cutting board I would go with a rock maple, followed by end grain bamboo for both aesthetic and environmental reasons.

End grain is usually the most porous. Is edge grain a better compromise?

[snuffaluff]

I use both wood and plastic, but perfer wood. Most butcher block cutting boards are ok to use.

The best thing to fight bacteria is cleanliness. Not much else. Just clean and maintain your wood board and it will treat you right for a long time. Don't forget that mineral oil either...

[jerseybounce_42]

I use both wood and plastic, but perfer wood. Most butcher block cutting boards are ok to use.

The best thing to fight bacteria is cleanliness. Not much else. Just clean and maintain your wood board and it will treat you right for a long time. Don't forget that mineral oil either...

Elsewhere I've seen the addition of beeswax or paraffin to the mineral oil recommended. Is the addition of the wax a good idea?

Seems like it might get sticky in hot weather.