Wooden cutting boards

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willis

Joined
Apr 14, 2002
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Futants link to the PHK mentioned hygiene as an asset of that knife.I found a test on wooden cutting boards somewhere that came to the conclusion that wooden ones actually had less bacterial growth than plastic ones because the wood absorbed the moisture and there was not enough oxygen inside for the germs to survive.Where the sythetic ones let the bacteria thrive because it held moisture in the surface.Has anyone ever heard,or read anything about this.In wood shop class 34 years ago the class project was cutting boards that were made from old school desk tops that were cut into 1 inch strips and laminated together with Elmers wood glue,then planed smooth.The one I gave my mom was used for many years until it delaminated from being put in a dishwasher.The one my cousin made is still in use today in my aunt Margies kitchen.She said she just wipes it down after use(she cuts meat on a platstic board and washes it with the dishes,and soaks in bleach when it starts getting smelly)to cut vegetables,but back when they were used before the plastic came along meat was cut on it and nobody ever got sick I reckon.So the testers conclusion sounds like it could be right.I am pretty sure the plastic ones that were tested were microban treated.I also read an interview with Yvon Chounard,the founder of Patagonia where he said that he thought too many people were to paranoid about their children getting germs on thier hands and then eating with dirty hands when camping.He thought that exposure to germs actually helped children develope strong immune systems.Maybe thats why we never got sick from nasty old wood cutting boards.Sorry so long winded(it is raining pitchforks here in mayberry)and I hope this is the right forum.I would appreciate anyones thoughts on this.Thanks
 
I use plastic for meat, when the surface gets either cut enough to make me feel complete cleaning is difficult or it becomes overly stained it get replaced for a few bucks. For everything else I used a wood cutting board that is about 25 years old. It gets wiped with soapy water after use and every now and then some peanut oil wiped into it.

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willis said:
Futants link to the PHK mentioned hygiene as an asset of that knife.I found a test on wooden cutting boards somewhere that came to the conclusion that wooden ones actually had less bacterial growth than plastic ones because the wood absorbed the moisture and there was not enough oxygen inside for the germs to survive.Where the sythetic ones let the bacteria thrive because it held moisture in the surface.Has anyone ever heard,or read anything about this.In wood shop class 34 years ago the class project was cutting boards that were made from old school desk tops that were cut into 1 inch strips and laminated together with Elmers wood glue,then planed smooth.The one I gave my mom was used for many years until it delaminated from being put in a dishwasher.The one my cousin made is still in use today in my aunt Margies kitchen.She said she just wipes it down after use(she cuts meat on a platstic board and washes it with the dishes,and soaks in bleach when it starts getting smelly)to cut vegetables,but back when they were used before the plastic came along meat was cut on it and nobody ever got sick I reckon.So the testers conclusion sounds like it could be right.I am pretty sure the plastic ones that were tested were microban treated.I also read an interview with Yvon Chounard,the founder of Patagonia where he said that he thought too many people were to paranoid about their children getting germs on thier hands and then eating with dirty hands when camping.He thought that exposure to germs actually helped children develope strong immune systems.Maybe thats why we never got sick from nasty old wood cutting boards.Sorry so long winded(it is raining pitchforks here in mayberry)and I hope this is the right forum.I would appreciate anyones thoughts on this.Thanks
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I have heard the same thing, though I am unsure of the truth of it. I use both plastic and wooden boards, both get cleaned with comet (contains chlorine to kill bacteria). Every so often the wooden boards get an application of mineral oil, which I by in the laxative section of the pharmacy.

Found a nice link, looks like they don't know if it is true, either:
http://www.cooksillustrated.com/foodscience.asp?foodscienceid=110&bdc=1320
 
The trick is to clean the board [all I use is hot soapy water ] as soon as you finish cutting . Never soak wood !! You can also briefly wet the board to minimize absorbtion of foods like onions ,before you use it.
 
There have been several tests of wooden cutting boards and, yes, the wood tested as good or better than plastic for retaining bacteria.

Wood can be maintained (preventing cracking, warping,...) and made less permeable by treating it with oil. To keep wooden cutting boards and wooden knife handles food-safe, use food-grade mineral oil for treatment. Animal and vegtable oils will turn rancid with time. Commercial furniture oils can be poisonous. Dave's "boardwax" works well and is made of food-grade mineral oil and food-grade bees wax.
 
I've heard numerous theories, and heard of tests that suggest that wood provides a less hospitable surface for bacteria and such than plastic.

However, there's one major advantage that plastic has over wood. . . it can go in the dishwasher. Dishwasher's do a great job of sanitizing surfaces.

For this reason, I prefer plastic for meat, and wood for everything else.
 
Honestly, I know a lot of people who have gotten food poisoning. Not a single one of them contracted it from their own homes. It was always from a restaurant or a social function.

I pretty much always rinse my cutting board right after use, using one of those green scrubby scouring pads. Sometimes when I feel the food was pretty nasty, like chicken dethawing for an hour or so, I hit the board with that lysol spray one (the one for wiping counters), let it sit for a minute, then do the green scrubby thing under the tap.

I prefer wood to plastic. I like the looks. When the start to get cut up a bit too much, I sand them down with one of those vibrating sanders and oil it with vegetable oil. Or I just pick up a new one.
 
Would dethawing be the same as freezing?

PS I never thaw food on a cutting board, I also thaw it on a dinner plate.
 
When I worked in a good restaurant kitchen about 40+ years ago - the chef had us wipe down just about all wood surfaces in the kitchens and the coolers with a strong hot water/vinegar solution. Just curious - any restaurant workers out there know if this is still common practice?
Got to admit that plastic into the mechanical dishwasher appeals to me.
 
Wood is better but either should be replaced when they get old and their are lots of cuts that can trap microbes.
 
There are some studies out there that are pretty interesting. A few years ago i did some research on the subject, and i will try to dig up some of it again so i can post links. Wood did come out on top as more safe, and the plastic boards being required in restaurants, hospitals and the like were actually linked to politics and money in peoples pockets more than how clean they actually were. There was a similar study done about wooden handled knives, but they did not fare so well because food got trapped between the cracks of the handles and blades. I will go forth and try to find the info, and thanks for bringing this up. I am in China, and they use wooden cutting boards and chopping blocks, I will try to find out how often they clean them, how, and with what.
 
Up at the CIA in New York, we used the polymer, "jelly boards", for all our cutting. I prefer those to the wood.
 
topher said:
I've heard numerous theories, and heard of tests that suggest that wood provides a less hospitable surface for bacteria and such than plastic.

However, there's one major advantage that plastic has over wood. . . it can go in the dishwasher. Dishwasher's do a great job of sanitizing surfaces.

For this reason, I prefer plastic for meat, and wood for everything else.
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Yep - same with me. Meat gets cut on the plastic boards and they go in the dishwasher.

I had a couple of boards that were made of Corian. They were heavy and wreaked havoc on knife edges so I gave them to my neighbor who uses them as more of a utility surface than a cutting board.
 
Unsub said:
Wood is better but either should be replaced when they get old and their are lots of cuts that can trap microbes.
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They can be sanded or scraped to create a new, clean surface. There are big butcher blocks that have been used and renewed for many decades.
 
Wash with hot soapy water. Treat with mineral oil from time to time.

I've seen studies both ways on the bacteria issue.
 
I prefer wood though I have a smaller plastic board that sees quick duty.

I clean with hot soapy water and use food grade mineral oil to maintain my wood boards as well.
 
Thanks for all the replies.A G Russells for men catalog has had some bamboo cutting boards that look pretty nice,but at around a hundred dollars are pretty expensive.Mycroftt,my niece had the counters in her kitchen built of corian and they made her a cutting board out of a piece of the scrap,it was very hard on knife edges,since her floors are bamboo she is getting one of the bamboo ones from AG's catalog for her birthday.Now if I could only keep her from putting her knives in the dishwasher with all the silverware!
 
mycroftt said:
I had a couple of boards that were made of Corian. They were heavy and wreaked havoc on knife edges so I gave them to my neighbor who uses them as more of a utility surface than a cutting board.
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Keep in mind that you may very well have two kinds of "boards" in your kitchen, cutting boards and serving boards.

Serving boards may be made of materials that you'd never want to cut into, ceramics, glass, metal, etc. Food is cut on cutting board and then neatly arranged on the serving board to be served. Some things like soft cheeses may be served on the serving board accompanied by a knife which is not sharp nor expected to stay sharp.
 
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