Chop chop, it’s time to get your wooden boards into shape
There’s nothing worse than “that smell” on a wooden board that hasn’t been cleaned properly. Last week’s onion stinking up this morning’s fruit salad, and did you partner clean the board well enough after the barbecue on Sunday?
The chopping board is the first gateway for ingredients to pass through on the ritualistic path to becoming a meal. It is the foundational staple of the kitchen. Plus it’s the home stylists first stop to adding some interest stat. Who doesn’t love a large round board adding character and depth to a white wall? Nobody.
Some people turn to plastic in a bid to be safe, board wise. Some kitchens have colour-coded plastic boards – red for red meat and yellow for chicken, green for veg, or was that yellow for dairy? It’s hard to keep track. And isn’t bacteria able to hide as indiscriminately in a scratched-up plastic board as it can on wood? We have the lowdown on what board to buy and when to use – and avoid wood.
The dishwasher is out of the game when it comes to wood – sigh. A wooden board in the dishwasher cracks and warps the board over time. So how do you clean a wooden board and make sure it’s no longer the breeding ground for bacteria and all manner of gross that you imagine it is – and you’re right.
How to clean a wooden board
The best way to clean a wooden board is to wash it. Shock. After discarding food scraps, rinse the board with hot water, apply dish soap and scrub lightly with a sponge or dish brush. Scrub well in any areas with knife marks, scratches and grooves in the wood. Clean both sides of the board, even if only one side was used. This ensures drips and any additional bacteria is removed, and will allow the board to dry evenly, which is important if you want it to sit flat on your work surface in future. Use extra hot water and give it a further scrub to eliminate stubborn smells and stains.
The best way to keep a wooden board completely clean is not to use it. Not the most practical advice. Or avoid putting raw meat of any sort on it. Meat is a major carrier of bacteria while sitting at room temperature.
Some people create a bleach Solution to clean a wooden board after it has been exposed to meat. It will do the trick, but at what cost to your board and the planet? Also, it’s not great to soak a wooden board, ever, and that bleach is going down the drain. So bleach is not a great solution.
Rinse your wooden board well with more very hot water (even boiling water from the kettle for an extra clean). Dry the board with a cloth and let it completely air dry before putting it away. Stand it upright to ensure both sides of the board dry out well. If it’s a sunny day, dry the board in the sun to further remove bacteria and smells.
How to keep your wooden boards looking beautiful
Now they’re clean, keep your wooden boards in top shape so they’re resilient to bacteria but also ready for displaying, propping on a bench, and actually using with food. To stop a wooden board from cracking and becoming dry, but also from warping in the future, oil the board once a month with food-grade mineral oil or beeswax. Olive oil and avocado oil might work well when maintaining cast iron, but those oils can turn rancid when they soak into a wooden board and we’re back to square one.
Apply food-grade mineral oil or beeswax to the board using a paper towel or clean cloth. Buff the oil into the board, being sure to coat every surface. Let the oil soak into the board for a few hours or overnight and then wipe away any excess oil from the surface.
What is the safest chopping board Plastic, wood or something else?
There’s little denying that wooden boards look better than plastic boards. Need proof? Find a stylish who will hang a yellow, white, green or any other primary-coloured plastic board on a wall to improve the look of a room. We’ll wait.
If your cooking is vegetable or fruit centric, wood is certainly the best option. It is easier on knives, keeping them sharp for longer, and they last much longer than plastic boards if maintained well.
Plastic boards not only gradually blunt blades, they turn ugly quickly. They stain and those rough grooves and miniscule cuts will never improve – they cannot be sanded down, oiled, fixed at all. Bacteria finds a happy home in all those scratches, and there’s not much you can do about it. In the end, a plastic board will become landfill.
Wooden boards last much longer, decades even, if they’re maintained. They become more beautiful with time and even if they’re in a really bad shape, they can be lightly sanded back and oiled, turned new again.
There is a third option. Some forward-thinking companies use a composite material involving no plastic. The natural composite is eco-friendly, durable, it doesn’t make knife blades blunt – major bonus – it can be put in the dishwasher. Sometimes called Richlite, the material has been used in housing interiors and exteriors because it’s so strong, waterproof and even beautiful. Boards using this recycled paper composite come in many colours – from black to “cinnamon” and natural. They may not be fit for hanging on the wall, but they’re an everyday kind of board that is a pleasure to use and easy to clean without resorting to plastic.
The best wooden boards to shop
1/4
S Natural Hardwood Wooden Chopping Board, $106.80 (usually $125.65) from The Market
2/4
Living & Co Bamboo Chopping Board, $11 from The Market
3/4
Culinary Co Acacia Rectangle Paddle Board Natural, $23.10 (usually $33) from Spotlight
4/4
Wiltshire Eco Bamboo Board Natural, $25-$35 (usually $35-$50) from Spotlight
Tips and tricks for cleaning a wooden board
- Use very hot water to clean wooden boards and help eliminate smells and bacteria. Rinse and rinse again, using a brush and detergent on stubborn spots.
- Lemon and salt – the hardest workers in the eco cleaning department – also work well to eliminate odours in wood. As needed, or about once a month, sprinkle the board with coarse salt, rub 1/2 cut lemon, scrubbing in circles. Let sit for about 10 minutes. Rinse well with very hot water ad dry well.
- Avoid bleach, which is drying for the board and awful for the planet.
- Avoid soaking boards as this can crack and warp them.
- If your board is overly worn, torn or has hard-to-clean grooves, either discard it or use it as an interesting decoration in the kitchen.
- Every few months or more, if you like, rub the board with beeswax or food-safe mineral oil to bring it back to life.
- Dry wooden boards completely before putting them away. Dry in the sun if possible to remove any remaining smells or bacteria.
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