If you’re washing a cutting board by hand, you should: But wood cutting boards would quickly be ruined by a dishwasher, and not everyone owns a dishwasher. Plastic cutting boards can be placed in the dishwasher, where they can be sanitized by washing at high temperatures. Plastic and wood have different characteristics, so you have to handle them differently.
Why use plastic cutting boards for meat? Because of how you wash them. Which type of cutting board should you use? Chapman recommends using plastic cutting boards for meat and wood cutting boards for fruit, vegetables, or any ready-to-eat foods (like bread or cheese). “That’s because they have larger grains, which allows the wood to split apart more easily, forming grooves where bacteria can thrive.” “Soft woods, like cypress, are less likely to dull the edge of your knife, but also pose a greater food safety risk,” Chapman explains. “Hardwoods, like maple, are fine-grained, and the capillary action of those grains pulls down fluid, trapping the bacteria – which are killed off as the board dries after cleaning,” says Ben Chapman, a food safety researcher at NC State. In addition, researchers have discovered that the type of wood your cutting board is made from also makes a difference. Wood is tougher to sanitize, but it’s also (often) tougher in general – you won’t find as many deep scratches in the surface. But cutting on them also leaves lots of grooves where bacteria can hide. Plastic cutting boards, Cliver found, are easier to sanitize. Photo credit: Betsssssy, via Wikimedia Commons. The idea was that they were easier to clean (and sanitize), and therefore were safer.īut in the late 1980s, a UC Davis researcher named Dean Cliver – the de facto godfather of cutting board food safety – decided to investigate whether plastic cutting boards really were safer. But at some point people began using plastic cutting boards. Plastic Versus Woodįor a long time, most (if not all) cutting boards were made of wood. To reduce the risk of foodborne illness in your kitchen, here are some things you should know about cutting boards. Fruits and vegetables can also carry pathogens (and transfer them to cutting boards). That, of course, would be bad.Īnd vegetarians aren’t off the hook either.
The extensive collection of butcher blocks on 1stDibs includes French Provincial butcher blocks, rustic butcher blocks and more.Anything that touches your food can be a source of contamination and foodborne illness – including cutting boards.įor example, if you cut up a raw chicken, and then use the same cutting board to slice a tomato for your salad, you run the risk of cross-contamination – with bacteria from the chicken being transferred to the tomato.
A more robust board - specifically, those that are constructed in the manner mentioned here - is a butcher block, which will be more appropriate for chopping meat as well as deboning. (The latter should be varnished or lacquered.) Construction types vary for butcher block countertops: There is edge grain (parallel boards that show their “edges”), end grain (small square pieces aligned vertically so that the “ends” are visible) and blended (with no specific pattern).Īnd there is a difference between a butcher block and a cutting board: A board in your kitchen that is used every day for slicing fruits and vegetables is generally called a cutting board. The varieties include cherry, walnut, maple and oak. Butcher block - which, as a descriptor, refers to a specific material that is biodegradable and eco-friendly - was initially used in a commercial capacity but began to materialize in the early 20th century as countertops.īutcher block is made from straight slats of wood that are glued together into thick slabs. Having a designated area for this kind of work will help keep the kitchen sanitary and prevent potential damage to countertops.īecause wood is difficult to clean, stains easily and is an ideal surface for bacteria to flourish, counters were traditionally capped with metal. Specifically, a butcher block affords you a strong and sturdy surface on which you can butcher meat as well as slice and dice vegetables. Whether it’s a stand-alone table or island, a feature atop your rolling kitchen cart or a countertop application, this is a specific type of assembled wood surface for important food prep needs.Ī butcher block is a designated work surface in a kitchen. For the culinary star in your home, an antique or vintage butcher block is an indispensable accessory.
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